The Game
by Kitten-Prince
Summary: The Inners and The Outers explode! Love is in the air, but who is in love with who? Pairings include...hints of almost everyone with almost everyone else! Did I mention the shoujo? Massive Shoujo... Enjoy the somewhat serious, kinda romantic, slightly echhi insanity! Rated for some language and insinuated yuri yummyness...
1. The Beginning of the End

OMG! It's been so long everyone! It is I! The author formally known as Prince Kitten, who forgot her email and password as life bogged her down so inconsiderately and has now returned as the Kitten Prince! Inspired by the return of Sailor Moon Anime (Next Year a BOO-YAHHH!) I have returned to writing! * Strikes a Pose…..Crickets Chirp….Faceplants* Anywho…., I present Shoujo insanity! Yay!

Warning, story contains massive amounts of randomness! This was intended as a one-shot believe it or not, then just took on a life of its own. So, depending on the day that I wrote whatever part of it, swings between psychotic, and almost serious, with fluffiness and just a taaaaad bit of ecchi.

And why did I write it mostly in English, but throw random Japanese words in at random points? Because I can. Deal with it ;)

Disclaimer: STILL Do not own any of the scouts. I envy Naoko Takeiuchi…. O.o

Michiru smiled softly as the door to her shared home opened, the cool rush of air-conditioning ruffling her hair. Opening the door fully she stepped over the threshold and made room for her house-mate to enter.

"It's good to be home, isn't Setsuna?" The greenette time senshi smiled in return and took a cue from Michiru, setting her travel bag down.

"Indeed it is Michiru. I'm sure seeing Haruka a week earlier than expected has something to do with your smile?" A light blush powdered the sea-senshi's cheeks and she laughed.

"Oh, I suppose that could have something to do with it. It HAS been two weeks." She giggled and Setsuna just rolled her eyes, long since used to the antics of the two Outers. Michiru paused and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. " But since she wasn't expecting us yet, maybe she isn't even home right now." She didn't hear the television blasting the latest race, the radio turned all the way up, or the low growl of the racer's car in the garage as she tuned and tweaked it to her liking. None of the tell-tale sounds of the blond woman's presence in the house. Setsuna merely shrugged and went to grab her suitcase, intent on carrying it upstairs to her room.

"Haruka is probably at the arcade with the others, showing off on the racing game again." Michiru grinned at this and went to grab her own bag as well.

"You're probably right about that Setsuna. At least I can get all this put away before she gets home." As both women headed for the stairs, bags in tow, a small noise halted their steps. Setsuna tilted her head and looked at Michiru curiously.

"Did you hear that?" She asked and teal-haired woman nodded back, her face pensive. Another small sound, almost like voices, cut through the air and the suitcases were quickly abandoned.

Working silently, the two women made their way back further into the house, the long hallway beckoning them as the whispers grew louder. Turned into voices. Challenging voices. Michiru swallowed hard, gripping her henshin pen, even as Setsuna did the same. Tiptoeing, they made it past room after room, Michiru silently cursing the largeness of the house as they went, until the last remaining door stood before them. The common room. Dark eyes met and locked in the dimness of the hallway, and an icy chill settled over both women as they braced themselves.

Stealthily, Michiru grasped the door handle, the slick metal cold to the touch. A quick nod to Setsuna, and she turned the knob ever-so-slightly, easing the door open. As one, they peeked into the room as if Galaxia herself was lying in wait. The sight that greeted them however, made Michiru wish that is was in fact their arch-foe come back from the dead, or wherever it was that she had been released to.

Setsuna, who was admittedly more emotionally removed from the scene that greeted them, was speechless and shocked in her own right, and felt for her roommate. For Michiru, her eyebrow twitched, her face etched into an emotionless mask, and a tempest brewed under the surface. Trying desperately to make sense of what lay before them, before the Sea Goddess snapped, which wouldn't be good for anyone in the Tokyo area, garnet eyes surveyed the scene.

On one side of the room, in a plushy love-seat, sat the Lightening and Love goddesses. Makoto was seated regularly while Minako was sitting literally in her lap, long arms wrapped around the brunettes neck. Both were staring at the spectacle in the center on the room. And while Minako's gaze was a mixture of shock and appreciation, Makoto's bordered on horrified.

On the love-seat opposite the sat the Princess herself. Sort of. Years of experience had taught Setsuna the art of observation well, and while it was definitely the future queen, she looked more like, well Minako. She was dressed in short shorts, a brightly colored halter top, flashy, and her normally odangoed hair was loose and fell over her shoulders, a red bow tying it up in the back. She could have been Minako's twin. Except for her face. A dark blush on her cheeks, eyes as wide as saucers. A comical expression to be sure. She clung tightly to her seat, her face almost buried in her cushions neck. Her seat, was none other than the fire senshi herself, a look matching Minako's in her eyes. An almost curiosity, a disbelief, her arms loose around the woman in her lap. As if she were an afterthought.

The room was dead silent, a held collective breath begging to be released. All eyes glued to the figures side by side on the couch in the center of the room. Michiru's included. How the other girls didn't see her, she didn't know. They were mostly facing the door. The backs of the two in the middle were toward her, affording her an almost perfect view of the alternate universe unfolding before her eyes. Her brain froze, unable to comprehend, completely boggled. For there, in the center of the room, poised pre-kiss, was her Haruka, HER Haruka. But quite obviously, it was not the violinist in her grasp. Though, from the hair color, you might mistake her in a quick glance.

It was not a quick glace that Michiru gave the smaller woman, not even close. Her aquamarine eyes burned holes into the ice-senshi's head. Setsuna placed a hand on Michiru's shoulder, not sure what to say. Michiru watched, horrified as Haruka's thumb grazed Ami's bottom lip, before holding her chin in place. A small look of shock washed over Ami's face and a pink dusted her cheeks. Her eyelids dropped and her eyes met Haruka's. Haruka moved closer and Setsuna closed her eyes, willing away the betraying image. A second later and under her hand she felt Michiru twitch again, her heart ached for her friend. She opened her eyes to look up at Michiru, to offer support to the obviously crestfallen senshi and opened her mouth to speak.

She stopped mid-word however, when she realized that Michiru's normally controlled countenance was not contorted by pain and heartbreak, but by absolute confusion and concentration.

She looked back over to the figures and saw exactly what she expected to. Haruka bent over Ami in a gentle kiss. Her eyes flicked back to Michiru who now seemed even more confused, her brow furrowed in concentration, head tilted in adorable un-understanding. Understandably, Setsuna assumed Michiru was in denial of what she saw. Sure Ami was hot, Setsuna herself had had a number of erm… happy dreams associated with the Ice Senshi, but to cheat on Michiru, Haruka couldn't be expecting to live long enough to enjoy her newest conquest. Only slightly miffed that Haruka had beaten her to the bluenette, Setsuna glanced back out.

Michiru, for her part couldn't figure out what she was looking at. As their faces pressed together the first thing Michiru had looked to was Haruka's eyes, to see if she could sense any emotion coming from her apparently soon to be ex-lover. She was shocked to see her eyes open. She flicked her gaze to the other woman, whom she was seriously considering renaming 'home-wreaker' in her mind, only to find something else that threw her for a loop. Ami's eyes were open too. Not that that was all too out of the ordinary, she had kept her gaze locked with her partner's for many a heated, emotionally charged scene…er…. kiss. But it was what their eyes were saying that so confused her. They didn't hold any of the emotion she would have suspected two people kissing should have.

She watched as Haruka's eyes seemed to laugh at Ami, the bluenette's eyes wide. And then the wind warrior actually winked at Ami, still not breaking the kiss. Michiru turned back to Ami and watched in surprise, as if she couldn't be surprised anymore tonight, as the girl narrowed her eyes back, almost in irritation. Haruka's eyes sparkled with mirth and she almost seemed to shrug, and the anger faded from Ami's gaze and she almost shrugged back, acceptance on her face. Michiru felt her eyebrow twitch again and made to enter the room, but a squeeze from Setsuna's hand stopped her. She glanced back and Setsuna actually smiled at her. Then she raised her thumb to her lips and kissed it.

The sea goddesses' confusion must have been evident on her face because Setsuna just smirked and nodded her head back out to the room, kissing her thumb again. She was convinced that the woman had finally lost it, because really everyone knew it had to be coming sooner or later, she hung out with Chibi-Usa in the future for goodness sake. Setsuna just repeated the gesture again. A small migraine beginning to form, Michiru turned back to her soon to be ex and the home-wrea…Ami, and stared hard at the place where their lips met. Well….Wait….What? At the place their lips should have met. Haruka's thumb, which had been on Ami's chin the last time Michiru had checked without rage blinding her view, was now on top of Ami's lips. Haruka was kissing her own thumb.

Wondering if she had indeed stepped into an alternate world, Michiru stared at the other senshi. From the awe-filled expressions on their faces, it was quite clear that they had NOT in fact seen through Haruka's game and were convinced this was a real kiss, not just an incredibly inappropriate, intimate moment. Makoto looked like she might be sick at any moment, Minako looked impressed, Rei was in shock and Usagi was…. Usagi.

Tired of whatever game was happening, confused beyond anything she was used to, and ridiculously irritated, Michiru again moved to announce her arrival, but Setsuna stopped her with a firm grasp. She shot a death glare over her shoulder, though it was void of the kind of force it required to make the time senshi flinch, and Setsuna just smiled in apology, holding her finger to her lips now, to motion them both to be quiet and just watch. With a quiet huff, a mental note to dip her house-mates hand in warm water the next time she was sleeping, and a slight nod Michiru agreed. Maybe a few more moments would clear things up.

Back in the room Haruka moved back slowly from Ami, noting with only a small amount of ego the pink on the smaller girls cheeks. She broke eye contact though when a cough broke out and Minako muttered in awe.

"Wow. That…was actually…kinda…hot." Usagi, her jaw still on the floor, nodded an affirmative.

"It was….yeah…" Rei agreed, her eyes darting between Ami's face and Makoto's blank stare. The brunette leaned to the blond in her arms and whispered conspiratorially.

"Is it wrong, that I found that hot as well?" She asked and the senshi of love tore her gaze from the couple to focus on the uncertain girl beneath her.

"Nope." She answered honestly." I mean, it was, yeah?" A small whimper escaped the brunettes throat and Minako sighed. Damn it all if this wasn't a major roadblock to their awesome plan. Who'd of thought that Ami would be the one to play all out hard-ball?

"Soooo," Haruka spoke out, wrapping an arm around Ami's shoulders. Ami tilted into the taller girl, her eyes flicking to Rei's wild curious eyes. She offered up a helpless shrug and Rei motioned to Makoto. Blue eyes flicked over to the ashen expression on the Lightening senshi's face and a simultaneous pang and joy and regret shot through her.

"Now that we've shown proof of our love," Haruka continued, and Michiru's eyebrow about twitched off her forehead, " who is next? Minako? Makoto?" She challenged and the two in question jumped and made blushing, guilty eye contact. Shifting uneasily at the rapidly changing game, Minako looked over to the third couple and hugged on to Makoto tighter.

"You may feel the need to prove yourselves, but Makoto and I are the most stable couple. We've been together the longest, that proves our love. " A sense of relief flooding her, Makoto nodded vigorously in the affirmative. " What about you two?" Minako challenged and their princess jumped, realizing that the attention was now on them.

"Uhhhh heheh…." She trailed off, looking to Rei for help but the Miko's eyes were firmly locked onto the Love senshis.

"What about us?" She questioned back and Minako smirked, sensing an impending victory.

"I think of everyone, you should have to prove your love the most, don't you agree Mako-chan?" The ice-senshi's eyes narrowed at the nickname, unbeknownst to the brunette in the room as all other eyes focused on Rei and Usagi. Haruka gave Ami's shoulders a squeeze and somewhere low in her throat, Michiru growled.

" Oh yes, it should definitely be up to you." Makoto agreed, desperately fighting the urge to glare down the wind senshi. Usagi humphed and nuzzled into Rei's neck.

"And why is that hmmm?" She questioned and Rei smirked at Minako, holding the blonde in her arms tightly.

"Well, you are the ones that threatened the future by disrupting the marriage of Endymion and Serenity and possibly endangering the birth of Chibi-Usa by dumping Mamoru and being together." Minako stated. The other senshi in the room calmly nodded, as if this were in fact common knowledge, but Michiru almost had to stifle a grin as the green-haired woman beside her twitched as well. Garnet eyes met hers in a sort of panic and she mouthed 'what the hell?'. Michiru just shook her head, bemused at the whole situation, and turned back to the soap opera.

Rei had a deer in the headlights look, and Minako had a Cheshire cat grin. Sparks between their stare-down flared into life around the room and Michiru noted yet another oddity. That their supposed partners, Usagi and Makoto, seemed to care less about the heated stare between the Inners number one and number two. Minako, with her eyes locked on the prize looked to be ahead but Rei's internal, and infuriating stubbornness reared it's head and she recovered, sniffing.

"Exactly. Don't you think risking the future of Crystal Tokyo just to be together proves our true love?" She asked back and Usagi giggled and made eye contact with Minako as well.

"Yeah Mina. I gave up my precious Tuxedo Mask for my gorgeous priestess." Usagi snickered and nipped Rei's earlobe earning her a full-scale blush. " And it is soooo worth it let me tell you.." Ami bit down on her lip hard to stifle a giggle, and outside, Setsuna twitched again. One of Rei's hand slid from Usagi's waist to her thigh, drawing little patterns above the girl's knee. Minako slipped into her game face for a millisecond before remembering her ultimate goal and a mask of playful indifference took over. She smiled and stroked Makoto's cheek seductively.

" I know exactly what you mean Usagi. Every second I have with MY Makoto is worth it." Ami stiffened and Minako shot a triumphant grin. " You agree too Ami? Haruka?" Still smarting from the 'MY' comment Ami didn't respond right away. Haruka took the initiative dropped a kiss on top of the blue-haired girls head, earning a barely stifled growl from Makoto.

" Oh we agree absolutely. It was a hard decision, to leave Michiru. But in the end, she understood. I had to be with my one true love." She cooed into Ami's ear. Makoto ground her teeth and put on a smile, playing with Minako's hair.

"You and Michiru seemed like you had true love though. How fast your affections must change if you've already moved on to Ami, hmm?" Haruka narrowed her eyes at the brunette, ready for the challenge, but a reminder cough from Rei focused her again.

"Don't get me wrong, Ami is no Michiru, but we feel what we feel right?" She said with a shrug, and Ami, snapping out of her focus on the closeness of the M and M pair across the room, snuggled into Haruka's arm and nodded, a pretend sadness on her face.

" I'm so lucky that Haruka decided to love someone like me. Even if I did have to give up my dreams to support her, it was the best decision of my life." She affirmed. In the doorway Setsuna felt Michiru's eyebrows flip off her forehead. Her own were fixed several inches above where they should have been. She couldn't make sense of anything, and that was saying a lot for her. Haruka had left Michiru for Ami, apparently talked to Michiru about it, though the growing tempest to her left told her otherwise, did not feel as though Ami were as good as Michiru, and made her give up her dreams so they could be together? And everyone was okay with that?

Well, not everyone, Setsuna noted as the bite in Makoto's next words almost made Setsuna wince.

"If you truly love someone, you want them to be happy, and to live out their dreams." She all but hissed at the blond racer who smirked and pulled Ami closer.

"True love conquers all sometimes. Isn't that true of you and Minako?" She challenged back and the fight in Makoto's eyes was evident. The room suddenly seemed heavy with their auras clashing. Minako gave a small forced laugh and patted Makoto's head.

" Of course we understand, don't we love?" She asked and with an amazing amount of effort, Makoto tore her murderous gaze from Haruka.

"Of course it is." She tried to coo and Minako smirked back at Rei who only gripped Usagi tighter.

"Yes, true love does what it wants to, and you an I do the same don't we my little bunny?" She whispered to Usagi and ran her hand up under the back of the girl's t-shirt teasingly. Usagi giggled, cuddling the priestess closer.

" Oh yes we do." She smiled. " Sometime for hours." Rei grinned back in triumph at the Love senshi who squinted her eyes and set her mouth. Without even breaking eye-contact she stroked Makoto's cheek who all but jumped at the touch.

" Oh we go all night when we want to." She said, eyes narrowed in concentration. Dark eyes gazed back, unfazed.

"Sometimes we go all day."

"We can go for a day and a night."

"We go for the whole weekend."

"We go after school."

"We go at school."

"You don't even go to the same school." Makoto challenged Rei, allowing both senshi to take deep breaths as they had shot back and forth rapid-fire, voices slowly escalating. Rei faltered and Ami came in with the save.

"Rei sneaks out during independent study to be with her."  
"Yeah, that exactly what I do." Rei smirked, and shot a thankful smile to Ami. Minako made a face that screamed of frustration and focused on Ami.

"You can't sneak onto campus and do that. It's not possible."

"Yes it is." Rei returned.

"No it's not. Makoto countered.

"Yes it is." Haruka offered. " I do it all the time to see my Ami." She beamed proudly and rubbed Ami's arm. Michiru all-but broke the door-handle off. Makoto snorted and Minako glared.

"Ami has classes all day. How DO you manage to find the time?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well now that Ami isn't going to be a Doctor, she dropped a class to see me." Ami nodded as Makoto's jaw hit the floor.

"What?" Rei giggled at Makoto's face.

" She did it to be with the one she wanted most. Any sacrifice is worth true love." Minako whipped back to meet Rei's eyes and the stare-down continued.

"Yeah Mako, wouldn't you do anything for the one you loved most?" Haruka dared and Makoto shot a pained look at Ami who gazed right back, still snuggled into the blond.

The confusion of Haruka's statements, Usagi's apparent abandonment of the future, the silent stare down between Minako and Rei, coupled with Ami's loss of dreams, the absolute absurdity of trying to follow the conversation and finally the Ice-senshi snuggling into HER Haruka had snapped what was left of Michiru's patience. Setsuna winced in sympathy for the unsuspecting senshi as the temperature in the hallway steadily began to drop.

In the six way stare-down, well four-way really as Usagi and Haruka were mostly just trying to hide their laughter, Minako and Rei and Makoto and Ami all refused to back down. Incidentally, they didn't notice the ominous, foreboding presence spilling into the room until it was much, much too late. Usagi, facing the door completely, noticed first. She froze in mid nuzzle, her eyes growing huge and all the color draining from her face as she focused on something behind the racer. Haruka gave her a funny stare, and Rei, noticing Haruka looking at Usagi, followed her Princess's gaze. It really, really should have been obvious to Haruka once Rei's face drained of all color too. But it wasn't, not quite yet.

Minako, irritated that Rei had turned away from their stare-down, also followed their line of sight. What she saw filled her, very quickly, with very mixed emotions. First, came the giddy. Because this meant, essentially, that she won. Well they won technically, she and Makoto were on a team together. And winning was good. Very good. Secondly came pity. She could sense what was about to happen and did not envy the racer her fate. Although it was mostly her own fault for getting in the middle of an Inner affair. And thirdly, she felt fear. Because really, she was freakin' scary.

Having now noticed how deathly quiet the room had become, Haruka finally picked up on the dark sense behind her. She didn't even have to turn around to know exactly how bad this was going to be. Out of the corner of her eye she met Ami's eyes and the fear she portrayed there was enough to root Ami to the spot. Senshi of Ice or not, the chill from the next voice that spoke froze Ami, and she resisted, only barely, the urge to whimper.

"Haruka, so nice to see that you were not lonely while I was gone. Although it appears you and I need to have a very long talk." Haruka did not manage to resist her urge and whimpered aloud. The next time the voice spoke it was only millimeters away from Ami's ear. "You and I need to have a talk as well it would seem." Anything that might have been left of Ami's courage swiftly dissipated and she and Haruka sprang up and away, using Senshi like reflexes to spin, mid leap and face the attacker. Makoto was torn between coming to Ami's aid, and letting this play out. Michiru's face however, kept her glued to her seat.

"Michi…" Haruka exclaimed, making a half a step toward her hopefully not former lover. Michiru's icy glare made her whimper and she glanced to Ami, who was staring at Michiru with wide eyes. Setsuna choose to walk in and stand next to her friend, her stony eyes locked on the princess and Rei. Usagi made a small squeak in the back of her throat but Rei refused to be moved.

"Does anyone want to explain to me exactly what's going on?" She asked and the stillness of the room spoke volumes. With Rei and Minako having equal looks of defiance, Mako looking almost gleeful, Usagi looking terrified and Ami mostly frozen in place, she decided to go after the one in the room who seemed most likely to break first. She turned to the petrified racer and arched an eyebrow, a move she'd perfected decades ago for instances just like this. "Haruka?" She questioned and the woman jumped a foot, her gaze darting to Setsuna's face before focusing again on her incredibly angry partner. "Is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Yeah Haruka. Anything you want to clear up?" Minako sing-songed and Ami, Rei and Usagi simultaneously winced. Out of self-preservation, the racer opened her mouth to respond but Usagi sprang up from Rei's lap with a speed she rarely displayed in battle.

" Haruka no!" she almost begged and Setsuna's eyebrow raised even further. Michiru sent a glare her way and Usagi almost fell under it, gulping audibly. Minako giggled and even Makoto began to smile.

"Haruka?" Michiru questioned and the racer almost went to her knees. " Do you have something to say to me?" Haruka shuddered, a pained look crossing her face, and she glanced back to her Princess. Usagi shook her head vehemently, her eyes begging.

" Don't." She pleaded and Michiru growled low.

"Haruka!" She demanded and the blond whipped her gaze back to the angry woman in front of her. "Tell me the truth!" This time, Minako's giggle was audible, and she leaned forward, the racer's fall impending.

"Yes Haruka. Tell Michiru the truth about you and Ami." Ami had just enough time to shoot a scathing glare to the love senshi, who Setsuna had to admit was a bit hot in her near-maniacal glee, before looking back over at her swimming nemesis. She swallowed, hard, at the icy stare and focused instead on the blond next to her. Her only hope of recovery.

"What do you have to tell me about you and Ami, Haruka?" Michiru asked and Haruka sank all the way to her knees. Her face cracked and she sent an apologetic look to Usagi, who, realizing that it was just about all over, changed her expression to irritation and defeat, crossing her arms over her chest. Rei hung her head and harrumphed, an irate curse word slipping out. Haruka shot a glance at Ami who was still hopeful, but the full-blown panic staring her back broke her resolve and she sighed, heavily.

"To hell with it . Go ahead Haruka." She assented and the blond needed no further encouragement. She spilled, in rapid-fire, panic-fueled successment.

"I'msososorryMichiIpromiseIlove youandonlyyouandIwasn'tcheatingonyouIswearIwasgoin gtotellyouassoonasyougotback butthePrincessaskedmetoandIh adtohelpinthenameofloveandRe iandOdangoandthenAmianditwas allbecauseofMinakoandMakotoa ndsoIhadtopretendtoloveAmito getbackatthemandIswearIlovey ouitwasallaliepleasedon'thateme!" She spit out and bowed down, her head on her hands in submission in front of the Sea Goddess.

The room was silent, a cricket chirped. Michiru twitched an eyebrow, Setsuna twitched an eyebrow, and then…

"YES! YES! I knew it! I knew it! You punks!" Minako shouted and lept to her feet, pointing at Rei. " You thought you could play me? Me? The LOOOOVE Senshi? I knew it was lie. We totally win!" She cackled happily and high-fived Makoto who had just jumped to her feet. Ami just kicked at the ground but Rei growled.

"We wouldn't even be in this stupid mess if it wasn't for you two dummy! You don't win anything!" Minako jump-turned to her, competition making her eyes blaze.

"YOUR lie came out first. I knew you were just trying to play us! Haruka broke. That means, we win!"

"Just because Haruka broke doesn't mean you win. You suck for starting this whole mess."

"And you FAIL for not ending it. You should've just given up Pyro. I mean really? As IF you'd choose Usagi over me." Minako grinned.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Usagi yelled and Minako opened her mouth to retort.

"AHEM." Michiru interrupted and Rei sweat-dropped, turning back to the pissed off woman. " How did Haruka get involved in this?"

"MichiI'msorryI…" Haruka started but Michiru raised a hand to silence her and obediently she stopped. Setsuna smirked at the oh-so-whipped blond.

"Princess?" Michiru questioned, though the tone of her voice really didn't leave any room to believe it was really a question. Usagi winced and looked up. " If I heard my former darling correctly," Haruka whimpered pathetically from her position on the floor. "She got involved because you asked her too. Is this true?" Haruka turned and her eyes plead with her Princess to verify her story.

Usagi shifted and toed the ground. She muttered something under her breath and huffed. Michiru narrowed her eyes and Setsuna spoke up to save her Princess from almost certain annihilation. And she wasn't about to wait around for them all to be reborn AGAIN.

"Princess." She commanded in her, I am the legendary time senshi who sees all and knows all so obey me or I'll go back in time and seriously fuck up your life voice. "Answer her. Was it your fault that Haruka is involved?" Minako leaned in to hear the confession, glee growing with every second. Makoto smirked and glanced at Ami, who had also glanced at her. A quick blush hit them both, and they simultaneously looked away. Usagi sighed and looked up at Rei sadly. The Priestesses' face fell as she saw the defeat there.

"Pleease Usagi…"She whimpered and Usagi looked away.

"I'm sorry Rei." She whispered and Rei's face changed to anger at the loss.

"Whatever, at least I don't have to pretend to love a clumsy idiot anymore." She huffed and Usagi's eyes narrowed.

"Clumsy idiot?!" She yelled " You should be on your knees thanking me for helping you out with this stupid game!"

"This stupid game was your idea Bun-head!"

"The hell it was! You and Ami came to me and begged me for me help!"

"We didn't beg you for anything! We asked for your help! Obviously a mistake!"

"A mistake? Without me you wouldn't have even been able to play this game! You would of given up right at first!"

"We didn't need you! We had a back-up plan! We could of done just fine without your dumb help!"  
"I'm glad you guys got caught! Now I can go back to my Mamoru and I don't have to pretend to love YOU anymore!"

"GOOD! I don't want to have to pretend either! I didn't know if I could take another day of having to hug you anyway!"

"You are so MEAN REI! Minako can have you! Good luck to her!" A vicious raspberry fight ensued and Minako rolled on the floor with laughter. Makoto grinned, relief evident in her smile. Ami rolled her eyes to the ceiling and sighed. Michiru and Setsuna just looked at each other. Usagi's explosion hadn't really cleared anything up. In fact, now they were both even more confused. Setsuna sighed and focused back on the Moon Princess and the Priestess, face-to-face, glaring at each other.

"AHEM." She cleared her throat loudly to interrupt and both girls gave a final harumph before turning away from each other, arms crossed.

"Some true love." Minako snickered from the floor and Rei glared down at her.

"Oh shut-up. This is still all your fault anyway." Minako just grinned.

"Princess." Michiru said, her tone making everyone jump. Her eyebrows were clear off her head, and her eyes narrowed, patience worn thin. " How. Did. Haruka. Get. Involved." She stated and Usagi swallowed.

"Um…well…I may sort of, kind of, have maybe asked her, very nicely, to help?" She stammered out and Michiru's glare ramped up a notch.

"To help you?" Usagi gulped and smiled nervously.

"Ah, to help Rei and Ami and me."

"To help you do what?" Usagi shot a look to Ami who shrugged in defeat.

"Um, to help them get revenge on Minako and Makoto."

"Yes!" Minako triumphed, fist raising in the air. Rei huffed at her and refused to make eye contact. Her first concern being her still former lovers impromptu make-out session, Michiru could of cared less about what ever game the damn Inners had gotten themselves into. Setsuna's curiosity was burning out of her skull but Michiru spoke first.

"So this is your fault?" She asked Usagi, intent on bestowing some sort of harm to the fault bearer. Rei sighed again and shook her head, a movement Usagi caught out of the corner of her eye. A devilish grin lit up her face as the opportunity to get back at Rei landed neatly at her feet.

"Nope." She stated and pointed a finger directly at Rei and Ami. "This is their fault." Rei jerked her head up to meet the evil blue eyes of her Princess and irritation flared. The ability to act on this however, died a painful death as Michiru's really quite scary you are now dead face was turned on her. Ami looked absolutely shocked and eeped, taking several steps backward. Michiru had already pretty much wanted her obliterated, and the small reprieve she'd gotten with the sea senshi's focus on the Princess now counted for nothing. Michiru seemed hell-bent on taking her out of the equation.

"So this is you fault then Ami?" She demanded and Ami's mouth went dry. She tried to speak but no sound came out, her eyes locked on Michiru.

"Ah…" Was about all she managed and Makoto went to move forward, in protection mode of the bluenette. Minako stopped her with a hand to the wrist and shook her head. They were so close to absolute victory she could taste it. Sense it. Feel it. And that wouldn't be all she'd be feeling tonight. She sent a lavicious grin at Rei who faltered, her face glowing red.

"Ami?" Setsuna stepped in, allowing the smaller girl a break form Michiru's icy glare. "Did you and Rei really get Usagi involved in this?" Ami made a face and sighed again, glancing at Rei quickly.

"Sort of?" She mumbled and Minako's grip on Makoto tightened ever so slightly.

"Sort of? Did you or did you not get the Princess involved in whatever this is?" Setsuna asked again, waving a hand in the air to indicate the giant mess. Ami winced and looked at the ground.

"Ah….yes. Yes, I suppose it is my fault that she is directly involved in this." She admitted, shuffling her feet. And action which Makoto thought was just absolutely adorable. She smiled at the smaller girl as shy blue eyes raised to meet hers. Michiru rolled her eyes at the cuteness and Rei just smiled happily. Setsuna shook her head.

"I almost can't believe that. I'm not sure what all this was, but I didn't expect it to be coming from you Ami." Ami looked back at the ground and Rei shot her a sympathetic look. " Or you Rei." Setsuna continued, and Rei looked up at garnet eyes in shock. " I could certainly expect this from Haruka, " The racer shifted in her kneeling position.

"Hey…" She muttered in defeat and Michiru bit her lip to hold back a grin.

" And definitely expect this from Minako." The blond in question looked over in indignation.

"Hey!" She defended and Makoto elbowed her in the ribs. Setsuna ignored them all, her eyes still on Rei, the fiery little priestess with deep burning eyes and long ebony locks… oh, right…focus.

"But from you?" She shook her head in disappointment and Rei clenched her fists. She didn't like to disappoint anybody, especially not someone she respected as much as Setsuna. Just dealing with Minako seemed to destroy any logic and self-control she had. Glancing over at said blond her eyes narrowed as she saw her hand on Makoto's arm. Smarting from Setsuna's comment, but obviously enjoying every second of Rei's punishment. She gritted her teeth and small devil horns sprouted from the top of her head in an almost mirror image of her Princess.

" Funny you should mention expecting this from Minako…" She began and the love senshi froze, picking up on exactly where this was going. Sending her a scathing smirk, Rei turned back to Setsuna, who had her arms crossed, one eyebrow permanently higher than the other. " Because actually, she started it all."

"Did not!" Minako yelped, jumping forward to defend herself.

"Oh you so did!" Rei chirped back.

"You and Ami are the ones who got everyone into this!"

"Yes and you and Makoto are the stubborn ones who started this in the first place."

"We wouldn't have had anything to start if you and Ami wouldn't have been so stubborn to begin with." She hissed and Rei chuckled.

"So you admit you and Makoto started this then? Good, see Setsuna. I told you." Minako's jaw dropped open and she very slowly turned to the two standing Outers. Michiru had her eyes closed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with one hand while Setsuna kept glancing between all of the Inners, trying to figure out exactly what the hell was going on. Deciding that allowing Minako to speak wouldn't be a good idea for anyone, Michiru turned to the one senshi who had so far escaped.

"Makoto." She hissed between clenched teeth and was a little pleased to see the tall brunette shirk back a few steps.

"Are you and Minako the reason all of this happened?" She asked and Makoto, whimpered, looking to Ami for reassurance. Ami just shrugged helplessly and Makoto looked to Minako who wasn't making eye contact.

"Um, yeah?" She answered and it was Rei's turn to triumph, slapping Ami on the back in congrats.

"You see? I told you we'd win this." She exulted and Michiru ground her teeth.

"WIN. WHAT?" She demanded, and suddenly every other scout in the room, Haruka included, became very very interested in the floor. Setsuna looked over to her and shrugged, confused at the response and Michiru felt her migraine pumping again. "WHAT GAME?" She yelled, and the level of her voice snapped everyone out of it, unfortunately at the same time.

"MichiIswear itdidn'thaveanythingtodowithme…"

"It was all the stubborn Priestess's fault. If she'd of just admitted…"

"…and I couldn't tell Ami because what if she didn't…"

"…stupid stubborn blond with such a big ego that she couldn't just come to me…"

"…don't have any type of experience with this sort of thing, so I had no idea how to move forward…"

"…supposed to be enjoying love with MY Mamo-chan, but no. My soldiers can't get it together…" As the combined babble continued Michiru screwed her eyes shut, a small vein in her temple throbbed mercilessly. She'd just about reached at end of what was left of her composure, and was amping up to pretty much Deep Submerge everyone in the room when Setsuna laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"What?" She snapped, fully ignoring the continued explanations from the others. Well, attempting to ignore anyway.

"…since I first met her and then Minako and I thought that since it worked so well…"

"…couldn't just let that stubborn blonde get away with it so we had to do something and that just seemed like…"

"…begged me, BEGGED ME to help them get revenge, and I couldn't believe that my guardians…"

"…Princessaskedmetooandwhatwas Isupposedtodoandtheyreminded mesomuchofusandiwasjusttryin gtohelp…"

"…seemed entirely to perfect to be true so naturally Rei and I had to be sure before we did anything else…"

"…Pyro had just admitted right then and there this all would have been over a week ago and we'd be in bed right now…"

Setsuna had started to speak to Michiru, but having picked up that last bit cocked her head to the side in an effort to clarify exactly what Minako was talking about. The girl had gone off on her own tangent, obviously, a slightly demonic starry look in her eyes if that was even possible. A few more seconds of listening to what she was saying however, and even the mighty time senshi, who'd been around the block more than once, turned beet red. She coughed and shook her head to clear away the not necessarily unpleasant images Minako was conjuring up and turned back to her friend.

"Michiru," she began in a soft voice, as if speaking to Hotaru before one of her Epic tantrums. And by Kami, they were EPIC. The kid was the senshi of destruction for goodness sake. "I know your main concern is how exactly that, um, incident came to be and how Haruka got into it, but it seems as though we are going to have to hear the whole story to figure this out, hm?" She asked. Michiru bit her lip. She really didn't want to care, but hearing the snippets flooding their way, she had to admit at this point she was damn curious. Confused as all hell in any case. Each of the girls were spouting various shades of blush and avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"…nibbled her ear for Kami's sake and this is the thanks I get…"

"…who could blame her with those glasses I would've loved to get her alone in the hallway too…"

"…swearitwasn'tarealkissandionlypretendedt obeontopofher…"

"…skirt that you could see everything in just for her ego so when she bent over…"

"…arms around me and hold me up against the wall like that since she's so much taller than me it'd be perfect…"

"…though whipped cream would go much better with her than strawberries would and wouldn't clog the handcuffs…"

Michiru and Setsuna both had to blink at the last one and Setsuna just slowly shook her head. She wasn't sure if she really really didn't want to know what was going on inside on Minako's head right now, or if she really really did. It had been a while…

With a heavy sigh Michiru realized her house-mate was right. There wasn't any way they were going to get to the bottom of this without starting at the beginning. She took several deep, mostly calming breaths, and stepped around the couch that had oh-so-recently held her former favorite, and now least favorite senshi.

"ENOUGH!" She barked out and silence again fell over the room as the defenders of the galaxy cowered before one of their own. She continued forward and allowed herself an internal victory smile when collectively, the group stepped back. Even Haruka, still on her knees, shuffled backward. With all of the elegance that she possessed, Michiru seated herself on the couch, lightly dusted off her skirt, and patted the spot beside her. Haruka perked up but Michiru glared at her and the blond sighed as Setsuna took the spot.

"It is painfully obvious, that whatever you have ALL managed to get into, it's complicated, ridiculously so. Therefore," She continued, oblivious to the growing sense of doom on each of the faces before her. ".. we are going to take this one step at a time." The room released a sigh of relief. She surveyed the still mostly terrified scouts and smirked.

" Who was the LAST one to get drawn into this?" She asked and everyone looked at each other. Hesitantly, Haruka held up her hand. The aqua-haired woman glanced around and nodded as the others didn't contest it.

"Okay. See, progress. This is good." Setsuna nodded her approval. No one had died yet, or even been seriously injured. Things were looking up. " Next step." She stared down at her partner and sighed. "Haruka, you were the last one to get involved?" The racer nodded vigorously. " And you were drawn into this by Usagi?" She continued.

"Yesbut…." Michiru held up her hand.

"Yes or No." Haruka pouted.

"Yes." Michiru let a small puff of breath loose and nodded to herself. With purpose now, and buffed by the first real step forward, she then turned to the Princess who eeped and took another step back.

"So you pulled my Haruka into this?" Usagi swallowed hard and whimpered, nodding her head. Michiru nodded with her. "And if I understood you earlier, it was Ami and Rei who got you into this?" She asked, putting emphasis on the Ice senshi's name. Ami flinched in response but neither she nor the fire senshi argued when Usagi nodded her head again in trepidation, eyes wide. Sure she felt bad for betraying her guardians, but the she wanted to live through the day to see her Mamoru again.

"Um-hum." She whimpered and Michiru nodded her head slowly. As one, both she and Setsuna turned to face the next two in question. The attention off her, Usagi just threw a pillow on the ground, plopped down onto it belly first with her chin in her hands, and produced a bucket of popcorn from nowhere. Ignoring the physics of a magical bowl of popcorn, and still pleased with the terrified look in Ami's eyes, Michiru choose to focus mainly on her.

"Do you deny this?" She questioned and blue and black shook their heads in unison. Minako smirked. "So you kept this…game…going?" Blue and black nodded in unison, and Setsuna shook her head.

"Instead of being the more mature ones and stopping this nonsense, you ended up involving your Princess? And risking Crystal Tokyo?" Ami's jaw dropped and Rei shook her head violently. Makoto bit her lip and on the floor, Haruka joined Usagi and the popcorn.

"Shameful." She whispered and Usagi nodded back.

"Irresponsible." She agreed and Rei ground her teeth.

"Crystal Tokyo was never in any danger." She bit out and Setsuna and Michiru turned to her, both growing smiles.

"Oh really?" Michiru pushed and Rei bit her tongue.

"Really." Michiru looked to Setsuna, and months of living together paid off in the silent communication they shared. Michiru pretty much said, I want to make them all suffer for this. And Setsuna pretty much answered, works for me.

"You know Crystal Tokyo depends on the marriage of the Moon Princess and Earth Prince, correct?" Setsuna ventured and Minako snickered at the condescending tone in the time senshi's voice.

"Ah…., my Mamo-chan." Usagi whispered from the floor and Haruka munched on more popcorn. Rei sighed heavily.

"Yes. I am aware of that."

"And that Chibi-usa, the future Princess, cannot come into being unless her parents, previously mentioned royalty, are married happily?" Usagi sighed blissfully, a light blush on her face and the image of her wedding and Rei sighed again.

"Yes. That too."

" And that a marriage, even a happy one, is not enough? That they must be…intimate?" Michiru hinted as both she and Setsuna leaned forward. Usagi giggled as both Ami and Rei turned beet red.

"Ah…yes. That part too." Rei answered, and something, in the very back of Ami's brain, woke up and screamed that her friend was being set-up. Sadly though, the warning came too late. The Outer senshi reclined back on the couch serenely, as though thinking through their next words carefully. Michiru smirked, and even Minako braced for it.

"So then, considering that the Princess just had her tongue in YOUR ear not five minutes ago while your wandering hands found themselves dangerously high on her legs, exactly how can you say you didn't put Crystal Tokyo in danger?" Minako had to admit, that once she got over the blaze of jealousy the images provoked, and her urge to shoot her Princess had passed, that she had a LOT of respect for the Sea senshi. That had been the perfect set-up. And watching Rei's face now, she wished she had a camera.

The Priestess was a shade of red that would have matched her fuku nicely. Her mouth was open, one eye and both hands were twitching. Ami looked much the same, with one hand over her mouth watching Rei in shock. On the floor Usagi, who had been in the middle fantasizing about her Mamoru, and been jerked back into reality rather harshly and was staring at Michiru, a blank, checked-out expression in her eyes. Haruka snickered and lightly elbowed her Princess's side.

"Nice Odango." She giggled and the blond snapped from her trance and whipped her head to the wind senshi.

"B….bu….but…." She stammered out and Minako and Makoto both stifled the urge to laugh aloud. Michiru and Setsuna kept their serious inquisition faces on, and coolly regarded the Fire senshi.

"Well, Rei? What do you have to say for yourself?" Setsuna asked again and dark eyes snapped to hers, a panicked lost look that was quickly growing.

"I….but she….we didn't….she's not….Um…." Was all she could get out and she sent a pleading look to Ami. The bluenette was still half-hidden behind her hand and only shook her head a little, unable to come to the rescue.

"Rei?" Michiru chimed in, going for the kill. "Did you, all in the name of this game, did you deflower your Princess?" Well that snapped Usagi out of it. She shot to her feet, scaring the absolute hell out of Haruka and exploding popcorn everywhere. Facing the Outers, and with a shaky hand pointed at her Fire guardian, she shrieked, in an ear-piercing pitch.

"I would NEVER let her touch me like that!" The others winced but Rei, whose brain really needed the distraction, took the opportunity to explode.

"Like hell would I EVER even WANT to touch her!" She screamed back and Michiru just cocked her head.

"So, your hand wasn't up her shirt a few minutes ago?" She asked curiously, and the shell-shocked Miko gave her a pained look. Haruka rolled on the floor, all the while congratulating the Princess on her conquer. While thoroughly enjoying Rei's suffering, a sudden thought occurred to Minako and she tilted her head at the Outers on the couch.

"Just how much did you see?" She questioned and as the thought hit the rest of the girls at the same time, they all turned to the Outers as one, eyes wide. Michiru only smiled serenely and shifted in her seat.

"Oh, I saw enough." She assured and everyone but Minako whimpered. Setsuna regarded her Princess.

"So, Crystal Tokyo is safe?" Deciding to move this along, she arched an eyebrow at the blonde, internally wondering if they were going to get stuck that high up after today. Usagi snapped her jaw shut and glared at Rei.

"Yes. Yes, YES! It's safe. I would never give up my Mamo-chan for HER." Rei growled and faced her.

"Like I'd want YOU too." She hissed and Michiru had to work to keep her face straight.

"But Princess, you said…" She began, but no further.

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Usagi exploded. " It was a lie! I don't want REI! I love my Mamo-chan!" Rei glared at her, sparks flickering lightly around her frame, and Michiru snickered lightly behind her hand. Setsuna met her eyes. And though the garnet orbs were sparkling with amusement, she motioned to Minako and Makoto, the apparent ring leaders, and her message was clear. Let's do this. Michiru gave a slight nod and turned back to the group.

"Okay, we believe you." She stated and Usagi sank to the floor. Haruka produced a new bowl of popcorn and the girl took it from her sullenly, stuffing a handful in her mouth.

"So we are back to it being on the two of you." Michiru continued and Rei let out a sigh, the flames flickering out of existence. She mumbled to herself, holding her head in her hands.

"Uh-huh." she affirmed and the bluenette at her side nodded. Setsuna put a finger to her lip, pondering something and turned to her friend.

"And then?" Michiru grinned.

"And then, errors in judgment aside, you two say that you got into it, or continued it, because they started it?" She asked, motioning to Minako and Makoto. The senshi in question froze, amusement at Rei's predicament swiftly dying. With a quick glace to their counter-parts, Rei and Ami nodded in affirmative and Michiru sighed. Finally, the end was near. Again, the sea senshi and the greenette turned as one to face the remaining scouts. Rei let out a heavy breath and sank into the seat behind her as Michiru kept the inquisition going.

"And do you contest that this whole, godforsaken ordeal was your fault?"

"I wouldn't say our fault really…" Minako mumbled, hesitant to take blame having seen what her precious, gorgeous hottie of a Miko had just gone through. Michiru glared at her and Makoto slammed a hand over the love senshi's mouth and nodded.

"Yes Michiru, we started it." She affirmed. The struggle to hold the blonde's mouth shut ended abruptly as Minako bit down and Makoto yelped, holding her finger.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Why did you say it was our fault?"

"Because it was Minako." She humphed and crossed her arms again.

"Whatever." Michiru nodded with her eyes closed, processing for a moment. When she opened them again, a devilish look had crossed her features and she focused on Minako, who shifted uncomfortably. " What?" She asked and Michiru's smirk only widened.

"I want YOU to tell me everything." She demanded and Minako blinked at her.

"Pardon?" Michiru kept her feral grin in place.

"Since everyone seems to be in agreement that you were the leading cause in this whole mess, a mess which I now have to sort out, you are going to help out by telling me everything, starting at the beginning." Minako frowned and shifted again.

"I am?" She asked and Michiru nodded slowly.

"Oh yes, you are." Rei stifled a giggle and Ami hid her laughter behind her hand. Not quite ready to admit complete and utter defeat, Minako raised her chin a bit and did her absolute damnest to meet the sea senshi's eyes.

"And what if I don't want to?" She asked petulantly and Michiru's eyes narrowed and a terrifying wind picked up from nowhere.

"Does it look like I care much what you want?" She asked, much, much too calmly for the darkness that had suddenly invaded the room.

"So, what if I just don't?" Minako pushed. And Rei, fearing for her possibly soon to be lover's life spoke up.

"For Kami's sake Minako, just tell her." she pleaded and Minako looked over to her with a sigh. She looked back to her partner in crime who just shrugged her shoulders. An expression of acceptance on her face. Maybe this wasn't exactly, or even near what they had in mind, but telling Ami and Rei had been the ultimate goal from the damned start. Minako released another long suffering sigh and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. With a final humph, her shoulders sagged and she flopped down on the couch behind her.

"Fine." She conceded, kicking the edge of the coffee table. Ami, Rei and Makoto let out a collective sigh and the darkness faded into the background. Those that weren't already sitting sank down into couches, the adrenaline of the past few days starting to wear on them.

"This is gonna be good." Usagi muttered and focused on the angry blonde. Minako glared back at her Princess who only stuck out her tongue in response. She rolled her shoulders, and stared up at the ceiling, defeat a foreign taste in her mouth.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Michiru answered, and Ami and Rei perked up, wanting very much to hear the story for themselves. Minako closed her eyes, and didn't turn from the ceiling.

"Fine so today we came over here…." She got no further before a cold breeze whipped across the room

"Minako?" Setsuna began, "It'd be best if you just started at the very beginning. From the day one." Minako huffed again, eyes still closed.

"Day one?" She echoed and Michiru nodded.

"Yes Minako. Tell me how this happened."

The love senshi cracked one eye open and glanced over to Rei and Ami, almost slamming it shut again at the gleeful look on their faces. She rolled her eye down to the floor and watched her traitorous Princess and the could-still-be-soon-to-be-dead Wind senshi happily munch on popcorn. Finally, she regarded the lightening senshi.

The brunette was watching her cautiously. Because first, you never knew if the blonde was going to pop off with something stupid and irritate Michiru, and second because there was absolutely no way that what Minako said next wasn't going to humiliate them both. Even in the name of a greater good, it was a hard pill to swallow. With a final huff Minako resigned herself to her fate, praying to whatever Gods might be listening that she got some tonight for what she was about to go through.

"Fine." She muttered in defeat and uncrossed her arms. She leaned forward and braced her forearms on her knees, starring down the Sea-senshi. She swallowed and pursed her lips. "If I had to pick a date, it'd say that this all started about two weeks ago, on Saturday." Michiru frowned.

"That was the day I left on tour." Minako nodded and Makoto chimed in.

"We actually saw you getting into your limo." Minako chuckled lightly in the back of her throat.

"You know, seeing you was what gave us..oomph" She trailed off as Makoto elbowed her ribs. She shot a dirty glare at the brunette and rubbed her ribs before continuing. " was what gave ME the idea in the first place." She made a face at Michiru. "You know, you could almost say this was all your fault." Minako laughed, amused at her own joke until she the icy look in Michiru's eye caught her attention and she held up both hands, laughing nervously.

"Heh heh, I mean, it could never be your fault….cough…" She trailed off and Setsuna shook her head.

"Go on Minako. It started two weeks ago…." Minako took one last look at her miko, and looked back to the ceiling. Oh yeah, she'd better get laid TWICE for this.

"Well it was Saturday, and Makoto and I were walking through the park on out way to Rei's shrine for the meeting…."


	2. The Beginning of the Beginning

HURRAH for Chapter 2! In which no real plot development happens but chaos ensues! WHOOP! Btw, progress shall crawl just a taaaad bit slower after this. Mentally I'm at the end of the damn story but writing it….. Sigh…. Stupid dialogue….

Well, please review, as is the cry of all writers. Build my ego and inspire me to miss sleep to finish the madness!

Note, _the italics _from here on out will be the present time, and the regular lettering is one of the one of the girls retelling the past.

Disclaimer: Still not mine….. Are you trying to make me cry?

"Come on Minako, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up. And I don't want my dearest smoochie, love-bear Ami to be upset with me." Makoto bounded up the hill, a spring in her step.

"Don't worry Makoto. I, Minako Aino, goddess of love, would never let such a terrible thing happen. Besides, I would never be late to a study meeting. School is much to important." Sun-shining through her glinting hair, she looked every bit as gorgeous as Aphrodite should, but still she was so well grounded, so real. Makoto shook her head, unable to believe that such a perfect creature existed.

"I agree! That is just what the love of my life, so cute I can't think straight genius of our group says to me all the time. So of course I agree with her. But why does such a beautiful, flawless face like yours look so very sad Minako?" The lightening Senshi pondered seriously. Blushing as naughty thoughts of her Ami danced through her head. A serious look overtook the drop-dead gorgeous senshi's face and she sighed, the weight of all the love in the world on her shoulders alone.

"I am so saddened for my dearest friend Rei."

"Rei? Why are you sad for her? She's hot, gorgeous, beautiful, serious, doable, talented, what could be wrong?"

"Oh Makoto, it's such a shame, you see, I'm sure that our friend Rei, is madly, deeply, painfully in love." Makoto hung her head, Minako loved her friends so purely, so unselfishly, it hurt to be near her.

"In love you say? Well, you are the incredibly talented Love Goddess, if anyone would know it would be you. So tell me wise one, why does Rei not confess her feelings?"

"The person, nay, shall I say it, woman she has feelings for, is so beautiful, so perfect, so flawless, that Rei feels she cannot compare and would be turned down on the spot. That she isn't good enough."

"What?! This can't be. Aside from my lovely, smoking hot blue-haired angel, Rei is almost the most perfect woman I know. Who could be so great to make think she isn't worthy? Unless…" The truth struck Makoto and she looked to her friend in awe.

"Yes, it's true. It is me that Rei is in love, lust, need, with." Makoto nodded, she could see the problem.

"Yes, I can tell why it would be so hard for her to come to you. You are so amazing, I'm sure she can't find the words to say." Minako nodded sadly, and looked down the hill at their best friends, the incredible talented, ridiculously hot Outer senshi, wishing each other good-bye.

"I only wish I could find some way to ease her burden. To take pity on her and let her know that even though I could have my pick of anyone in the world, for my friend I would love her, self-lessly. I suppose, it won't be too hard to do. She is a red-hot example of hentai in a dogi and I would, of course, be willing to let her release all that pent-up catholic school girl need on me, whenever and wherever she wanted."

"Minako, you are such a martyr for love! I'm so blessed to have you as my friend! What should we do then, to ease poor, sad, lonely Rei's life?"

_Minako stopped in the middle of her incredibly accurate, down to the detail description and tried to focus. A few irritating noises had begun from her listeners not to long ago, and try as she might to ignore them and dutifully continue her story, they were just getting to damn loud. Curiously, her eyes searched the room._

_On the floor, the popcorn lovers had been choking, trying to keep down their giggles, but at the beginning of Minako's last quote had stopped chewing, and were now staring at her, jaws slack. A few stray kernels of popcorn falling to the floor. Michiru had her eyes closed again, rubbing the bridge of her nose, and Setsuna was patting her leg in sympathy, though Minako noted her hand was preset high up for just a friendly pat. Said greenette was also biting her own lip to keep from commenting. Truthfully, she'd sort of wished Minako would have kept going. This was great entertainment. Makoto was as red as Ami had turned ever, a horrified expression on her face. She looked like she wanted to slam her hand on the Love senshi's mouth again, and played with her hurt finger from the last time she'd tried that._

_Ami had a dark blush across her face, she eyes darting between Makoto, Minako, and a slightly fearful look crossed her face whenever she glanced at Rei. A little irritated that everyone wasn't more impressed with her re-telling, she turned to Rei, expecting at least her to have appreciated it._

_Rei was red too. Though Minako suspected it had more to do with the flames spouting off of her than anything else. Her eyes were narrowed at Minako and Makoto both, fists clenched at her sides._

"_What?" Minako questioned innocently and Rei exploded off the couch._

"_POOR SAD LONELY REI?!" she screamed and Minako flinched._

"_Um, yeah?" Fire erupted around the senshi of Mars and everyone scattered to the edges of the room._

"_REI WHO DOESN"T THINK SHE"S GOOD ENOUGH? WHO CAN"T COMPARE?" She yelped sarcastically and Minako stared back with wide eyes._

"_Um…" Rei's fury turned inward and she seethed, the carpet under her beginning to glow as fiber turned to ember. All three Outers cringed. That was going to be expensive to replace._

"_You were going to take PITY on me?" She bit out and Ami winced, under the anger, she could sense the hurt in Rei's voice at the thought that all of this was about pity. In fact, everyone in the room could sense exactly what had set the Miko off, except for Minako of course._

"_You know, you are actually really hot when you're angry like this." She stated, tilting her head to give the Miko an appreciative eye. And just like a flame when all the oxygen is sucked from the room, Rei's fire died as the breath escaped from her lungs in a whoosh. She stared at the woman in front of her, sputtering in confusion. _

"_Wha…?" Was what she got out and Minako leaned back into the couch. Slowly, the rest of the room edged back to where they were before and Rei, wrinkling her forehead, attempted to form a thought._

"_Not good enough…?" She asked, trying desperately to focus on what it was that had irritated her so much to begin with and Minako just shrugged._

"_Well, what other reason would you have had for not jumping me the second you got me alone months ago? Seemed to make sense to me." She answered and Rei twitched. Michiru sighed and looked to Setsuna for help. At this rate, she'd never figure this out._

"_Um, Minako?" Setsuna began, " Perhaps we should let Makoto tell the story, hmm?" Minako grinned and turned to the brunette._

"_Works for me." Makoto's face showed the horror she was feeling, and with a quick glance to Ami out of the corner of her eye, she dropped to her knees._

"_Oh please please please please please don't make me. Minako really is so much better a story teller than I am and I have a terrible memory and I'm horrible with details and please?" She begged. Minako only snickered and Ami looked on, a smile on her face. Michiru shook her head, regaining her composure._

"_No, it's obvious, after Minako's, ah, attempt, that we are going to need a different narrator." She spoke, trying to regain her authority. "This should be up to you." Makoto heaved a heavy sigh and gave a pained expression to Minako who shrugged indifferently. The brunette whimpered and stared up at the ceiling, simply to avoid eye contact._

"_Um, okay, sooo, like Minako said, it all pretty much started two weeks ago on our way to the study meeting."_

Makoto put her hands behind her head and stared up at the cloudless sky. It really was a beautiful day. She could already anticipate Usagi's complaining. She chuckled to herself. Hell, she couldn't blame her. Who wanted to be inside studying on a beautiful day like this? The only thing that really made it worth it for her was…

Her thoughts were interrupted as a quiet curse sounded behind her. Minako trudged behind her, a steady stream of curses flowed from the blond and she kicked a rock, pinecone, or piece of trash violently with every step. Makoto smiled in sympathy and slowed so the girl could catch up to her.

"That bad huh?" She asked and Minako snapped her eyes up. They stared at each other for a moment before Minako heaved a sigh and nodded.

"No reaction, none at all. I just don't get it!" She exclaimed and Makoto sighed herself, given both of their predicaments, they'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to encourage their friends to notice them.

Some time later they saw Haruka and Michiru….

"_AHEM." Michiru coughed and Makoto turned from the ceiling to look at her sheepishly. "Some time later?" The sea senshi questioned and Makoto swallowed and shrugged._

"_Well I mean, there was some boring talking going on but all in all the action starts much…." Michiru held up a hand and obediently, Makoto stopped talking._

"_Don't skip time. If it's relevant, at all to this whole debacle, I don't want you to leave it out. Word for word Makoto." She instructed. The brunette made a face and looked to Minako, who knew exactly what was coming up. She in turn looked to the fire and ice senshi who were sitting on the edges of their seats. With a hapless shrug, the blonde turned back to Makoto._

"_Screw it." She said and Makoto closed her eyes._

"_Right then, so as I was saying…." _

"No reaction, none at all. I just don't get it!" She exclaimed and Makoto grinned.

"What'd you try this time?" She asked and Minako blushed lightly.

"I sort of, had her walk in on me naked." Makoto stopped walking abruptly and turned on her friend.

"YOU WHAT?" She asked and Minako huffed.

"I let her see me naked, or, mostly naked anyway. Damnit I'm sick of playing light ball, it was time to put the hard pedal to the gold and go for the ball!" She announced and Makoto blinked.

_Incidentally, so did everyone else in the room. Haruka spoke first._

"_Um….what?" She asked and Ami shook her head. She could practically make a carrier out of translating Minako._

"_I think she meant, Play hardball…. And go for the gold, and put the pedal to the metal." She clarified and the group nodded as one._

"_Oooohhhh." They all said and Michiru motioned with her hand._

"_You may continue." Makoto ignored the look she got from Minako and kept going._

"Um, right…. So, I take it Rei didn't go for it?" Makoto asked and Minako crossed her arms in irritation.

"It was like I wasn't even there! All she said was, Oh, sorry Minako. Since you aren't ready yet, I'll see you at the meeting. Tee-hee" Minako mimed and huffed, spreading out her arms to gesture to herself. " Like, I'm not a ridiculously hot could be model with a killer body that she should be begging to touch!"

"_Umm….Makoto?" Setsuna edged, and the lightening senshi looked up._

"_Hm?" _

"_It'd probably be best if you stuck to what was actually said, no exaggerating." She whispered and motioned with her head to where Rei sat, beet red again. Minako spouted an equal blush and Makoto shrugged sheepishly._

"_Um, that was what was said, no exaggerating." She whispered, and five sets of eyes shot to the love senshi. Minako wisely kept her eyes closed, trying to breathe normally. Michiru bit her lip._

"_Um, that really happened?" she addressed the fire senshi, who once again had her face buried in her hands. The Miko nodded, still hiding her eyes and Michiru looked to her roommate._

"_Riiight, okay then. Go on." Setsuna urged._

"Like I'm not a ridiculously hot could be model with a killer body that she should be begging to touch!" The blond huffed, mercilessly lashing out at a hapless soda can in her path. Makoto grinned as it skittered off the path and shook her head.

"Maybe Rei just appreciates subtly?" She suggested and Minako snorted.

"Subtly? Like what? Seductive glances? Sitting just a little too close? Random eye contact that I don't let her get away from? Accidentally touching her in inappropriate ways? Did she seem to appreciate any of that to you? Kami! That woman is so stubborn!" Makoto chuckled as they walked forward. Blue eyes glared at the back of her head.

"I don't know why you're laughing. It's not like things are going much better for you." She bit and Makoto faltered.

"Yeah, you're right." Minako tilted her head at the brunette.

"So what'd you try?" Makoto shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing as um, obvious as having her walk in on me naked." She chuckled and Minako turned red and shoved her friend lightly. The lightening senshi laughed. " I think I'm going to have to change tactics though. It isn't working at all."

"The whole, oh look a cute guy thing?"

"Yeah! I mean, how many guys do they really think look like my old sempai? Kami, I must mention a cute guy a hundred times a day and she never even blinks! If there was anything there at all, you'd think Ami would show at least a little bit of jealousy right? I don't even think she cares what guy I 'chase' after." she sighed.

"_Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Usagi burst into laughter and startled Makoto who looked down in surprise._

"_What?" She questioned and the blond almost died laughing again. Even Setsuna and Michiru were holding back giggles. Ami was just beet red, staring at the floor._

"_You mean you were TRYING to make her jealous?" The blond gasped in between giggles and Makoto shifted and glanced at the bluenette._

"_Yeah…" She mumbled and Usagi burst into another fit. Even Haruka shook her head._

"_And you honestly didn't think it was working?" She asked and Makoto frowned and looked back over to her genius who was still focused on her shoes, even redder than before._

"_No?" She answered and Usagi stopped laughing long enough to shake her head at her guardian._

"_Oh man, Makoto. How could you have missed that? Even I noticed it. That last 'sempai' you pointed out? That one three weeks ago, at the mall?" Makoto nodded slowly, still focused on how red Ami was turning. " I though Ami was going to kill him!" She snickered and Makoto turned to her Princess._

"_Excuse me?" Even the ever so noble and polished Time senshi couldn't keep her laughter in at the confusion on the brunettes face as Haruka snickered at her._

"_Oh my God Makoto. How did you miss it? Every time you even mentioned the word sempai Ami would get all quiet and death grip whatever book she was holding. When he walked over to you and put his hand on your shoulder, Ami just about came out of her seat. Rei had to hold her back she was so pissed!" Haruka chuckled. Said Ice senshi was still laser-locked on the floor so Makoto looked to Rei who just bit back a smile and nodded in confirmation._

"_Really?" She asked the bluenette hesitantly and Ami shifted and mumbled something. Straining to hear, Makoto leaned forward. "Is that true Ami?" She whispered and the use of her name snapped Ami out of her blush induced coma. Her eyes shot up to meet startled emerald and Makoto couldn't believe the intensity she saw in them._

"_He. Touched. You." She growled out and Makoto fought the urge to sigh happily. Possessive Ami was also smoking hot Ami. Seeming to read her thoughts Haruka, Setsuna and Michiru nodded in unison and Makoto smiled serenely._

"_I didn't want HIM to touch me." She offered and that took all the bite out of the ice senshi who caught the innuendo, turned red all over again, and re-focused on her shoes. Immensely satisfied, ego stroked, and oddly turned on, Makoto leaned back against the couch, a grin on her face._

_A small cough broke her out of her happy time and she turned to Michiru who was doing her best to still look stern and irritated._

"_Please continue Makoto." She suggested and Makoto nodded._

"Maybe she just hides it really really really well?" Minako suggested and Makoto just stared back up at the sky. The pair was silent for a while, and as they cleared the top of the hill, they noticed a limo stretched out on the street below.

"Isn't that Michiru and Haruka?" Makoto asked and Minako glanced down at the embracing pair.

"Hmm. Yeah. I think she is going out on tour no?" Makoto watched, imagining embracing her own blue-haired senshi the same way when Minako lashed out and scared her half to death.

"IT ISN'T FAIR!" She screamed and kicked a picnic table. Makoto held her hand over her heart and took a deep breath.

"Maybe we were wrong Minako? Maybe it is just us that feels like this?" She suggested, trying to calm her terrified heart and the blond collapsed on the beaten piece of furniture, her head on her arms.

"I'm not wrong Makoto. I'm not! I might be a little off, a liiiitle biased when it comes to them, but I can't be that wrong. I know I've felt something from her. It's there! You can't honestly tell me you've never sensed any kind of interest at all from Ami can you?" She demanded and Makoto let her mind wander to her friend.

The stolen glances that seemed to last just a few seconds too long, the random blushes, the shy smiles, how they always, always ended up sitting next to each other…

"_You know I noticed that too." Usagi mumbled and Minako nodded her head in triumph._

"_THANK you Usagi." She motioned to the equally red Ami and Rei and nudged Makoto. " Do you believe me now?" She demanded and Makoto gave her a guilty smile, choosing to continue with the story._

"No, it's there. They just aren't getting it! For the two with the highest grades, they can sure be dumb sometimes." She sighed and Makoto joined her on the table.

"If you are so sure, why don't you just tell her then?" She suggested and Minako looked to her with a horrified expression on her face, like she'd just suggested they date Mamoru.

"Oh no. I am going to make HER, come to ME! You think I'm going to let her hold it over me for the rest of however long we live that I cracked first and had to have her? Uh-huh. She wants to play, fine, I'll play." Makoto sweat-dropped and sighed, looking away from her determined, and slightly psychotic friend.

"_Slightly?" Rei chimed in from behind her hands and Minako stuck her tongue out._

"What do we do then?" Makoto asked and Minako followed her gaze down to the outers where Setsuna had joined the couple, waiting by the door of the car while the lovers said their good-byes.

"Why couldn't it just be that easy?" Minako muttered.

"_Easy?!" Michiru yelped, except didn't yelp because she was way to proper for such a thing. So, actually, she spoke emphatically. "You think getting her to break was easy?" She pointed an accusatory finger at the tomboy on the floor who immediately jumped back into her bowing position. " It took a lot of time, patience, and discipline." She huffed and Setsuna smiled. It was like she was describing training a puppy. Although, that analogy wasn't to far off she thought and the image of Michiru smacking Haruka on the nose with a newspaper edged into her mind. She chewed on her lip to keep from giggling, and much to her irritation, the image morphed to Michiru spanking Haruka elsewhere with the rolled up newspaper. Michiru seemed to read her mind, well she was psychic, and stared at her roommate._

"_Ecchi." She whispered and Setsuna shrugged. Michiru smiled, the idea now planted and Haruka looked up at them, as if she sensed her doom. Ignoring the Outers and their own confusing little love mess, Makoto cleared her throat and kept going._

"Why couldn't it just be that easy?" Minako muttered. And Makoto watched as young girl, kinda cute walked past Haruka as Michiru was setting her bag in the back. The racer smiled flirtatiously, and the girl blushed as she kept walking. Michiru noticed, but instead of saying anything to her girlfriend, stepped over to the male driver and lightly placed her hand on his arm. She said something and they both laughed. With a pout, Haruka wrapped her arms around the violinist, possessiveness oozing off of her and the startled driver stepped back nervously.

"Doesn't look that easy. Even they play games." Makoto sighed but Minako shook her head.

"Yeah but, it's their way of like, saying I love you or something."

"What?"

"Look at them. They do it all the time. Haruka will flirt some random girl…"

"Or one of us…" Minako laughed.

"Or one of us, and Michiru will come up and play hurt. Then she'll flirt with some random guy, and Haruka gets to act all, possessive caveman, and they go home and probably boink like bunnies."

"_Cough." Setsuna cleared her throat pointedly and nodded in affirmative and it was Michiru and Haruka's turn to blush._

"_You don't know that…." The racer trailed off and the time senshi rolled her eyes._

"_Just how quiet do you think you actually are Haruka? I don't know how you were unaware but Michiru can scream…" She got no further as a horribly blushing Sea senshi clamped her hand over the greenette's mouth._

"_Heh-heh. This story is about THEM Setsuna." She hissed and Setsuna smirked under the hand. Taking a page from Minako, because really, why the hell not, she lightly flicked her tongue against the fingers across her mouth. Michiru's jaw dropped, but instead of freaking out, which was what Setsuna had predicted, her eyes glazed over and a dark look bubbled up. Haruka, recognizing her girlfriend's 'you are about to be underneath of me' look, shifted her focus to Setsuna, who was still smirking._

"_Um…." She questioned and Michiru just pulled her hand away, a dirty smirk on her face, eyes never leaving the older woman's as she settled back into the couch._

"_You may continue Makoto." She demanded and Makoto glanced furtively between the two before doing so._

"…probably boink like bunnies." Makoto snorted, it wasn't all that hard to picture. She kept her eyes on the drama beneath them.

"Kami, wouldn't it be so much easier if we could just make them jealous too?" She asked the air, and so missed the light bulb that flared to life above the love senshi's head.

"Makoto. You. Are. A. Genius." Minako stated, and started to chuckle. Makoto swallowed and gave her friend a strange look.

"I am?" She asked and Minako's laugh turned evil. Makoto wisely scooted back and Minako grinned.

"Oh yes. It's perfect. I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" She exclaimed, and lept onto the poor abused table, pointing down at the unsuspecting Outers.

"Ah.. What's perfect?" The brunette asked, still moving backwards. The blond shot her a look.

"How can you not see it? The answer to all of our love problems. The end to this whole mess! We. Make. Them. Jealous." She spoke as if it were the holy grail she was revealing and struck a pose as she waited for Makoto to bask in her genius. Instead, the girl screwed up her face in confusion and shook her head.

"Minako. I don't think that's going to work. I mean first, how the hell would we even go about making Haruka and Michiru jealous of us? And even if we could, how would that help any?"

_Makoto heaved a sigh as the snickers started. Honestly, she'd rather of just skipped this whole damn part, but Michiru said word for word so….._

"_Bwa-hahaha." Haruka rolled with laughter, crunching forgotten popcorn kernels beneath her. " You actually thought she meant to make US jealous?" She gasped out and the brunette kicked the edge of the table lightly.  
"Well I don't think along the same lines as she does." She hissed and Rei snorted._

"_But really? Make Haruka and Michiru jealous? What did you think Minako was planning?" She asked, shaking her head. Makoto stared down at the floor._

"_That's why it didn't make any sense to me." She muttered._

"_Oh my God!" Minako sputtered, and fell on her side on the couch, holding her stomach from laughter. " I CANNOT believe you copped to that! I totally would have covered for you if you just skipped that part!" Makoto turned red and kicked at the ground. _

"_Whatever." She said, embarrassed. Her light blush making her look absolutely doable, or so a certain blue-haired girl thought. Ami shifted on her seat, a smile spreading over her face as her green-eyed goddess blushed herself into non existence._

"_Is that what I look like when I blush?" She asked quietly and Rei nodded her head._

"_Yup." Ami made a face._

"_How has she not jumped me by now then? She's….almost irresistible like this." Rei looked over to Ami in surprise and sure enough, Ami had THAT kinda look on her face. Rei snickered and looked back over to the angry brunette, still cursing the floor. Well, someone was going to get some._

_Trying desperately to control her own bout of laughter, Michiru summoned what was left of her self control, which seemed to be slowly sapped out of her the longer she spent with the psychotic Inners, and put on a straight face._

"_Please continue." She managed and Makoto huffed._

"_I don wanna." She mumbled softly and Ami fought the urge to clear the room to her. Minako interrupted with a grin._

"_I'll keep going." She said and Michiru sent the blonde a glare. Instantly the singer put up her hands and laughed nervously. "And of course it will be accurate this time." She added hastily. Michiru looked to Setsuna, who only shrugged, and then nodded. Minako bounced up into a sitting position. _

"_So, where were we…."_

"And even if we could, how would that help any?" Makoto asked, staring up at her friend in confusion. Minako blinked, trying to figure out exactly where her communication had gone wrong. Shaking it off she jumped down and grabbed her friend by the shoulders, eager to have someone share the brilliance of her plan.

"No silly. Make Ami and Rei jealous." She clarified, and waited for it to sink in. Makoto blinked at her, looked back down the hill at the Outers, and then back to her friend. She opened her mouth to say something, closed it with a confused look on her face, then opened it again and addressed Minako as if speaking to a slightly retarded child, which she had to do often anyway.

"Minako." She stressed, putting her hands on the blondes shoulders as well. "Forgive me for not following your brilliant plan, but how will making Ami and Rei jealous of Haruka and Michiru help us any either?"

_This time explosive laughter burst out from every senshi in the room and Makoto just groaned and buried her head in her hands._

"_She didn't!?" Usagi stuttered and Minako just nodded her head in confirmation, laughing too hard to answer._

"_Oh wow Makoto, and here I thought you weren't one of the blondes." Haruka pealed, laying on her back trying to catch her breath. The brunette only sighed and buried her head further down. She peeked out through her arms and glanced at the group, all in various stages of laughter, except one. Ami was just smiling softly at her, amusement in her eyes. Her lack of laughter prompted Makoto to raise her head._

"_You don't think that was funny?" She asked, and Ami giggled, but didn't break eye contact._

"_I can't deny that. But, it's also quite cute and innocent how you don't think along the same manipulative lines as everyone else." She pointed out and Makoto turned a different shade of red. Minako had noticed the exchange and poked her friend on the shoulder._

"_I told you I wasn't wrong about her." She snickered and Makoto hid in her hands again, peeking out at the blue-haired yummy-ness across the room. Setsuna finally swallowed enough air to breath normally again and focused on the Senshi of love._

"_Keep going Minako. I sense we are close?" Minako looked up._

"_Eh? Oh, yeah, just about to the beginning I guess." As the laughter died down, and the only noise because the quiet hiccups from the popcorn girls on the floor, Minako spoke again._

"…jealous of Haruka and Michiru help us any either?" Minako blinked at Makoto. Makoto blinked at Minako. Minako let her hands fall to her sides and screwed up her face. How the hell had Makoto….?

"Makoto." She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "What we should do, is make AMI and REI jealous of YOU and ME." She emphasized the names. Makoto blinked again and Minako was ready to give up when the light bulb exploded over Makoto's head and she shook her friend by the shoulders.

"Oh my God Minako! That is brilliant! Why didn't you just say that to begin with?" She shook the shorter girl with each word and Minako felt her brain scramble.

"Um…" Was all she got out when Makoto suddenly jumped away and refocused on the Outers, on a mission now.

"So, how do we do that?" She asked and Minako held her head still for a moment.

"What?" She asked and Makoto looked back at her.

"How do we make them jealous of us?" Minako, still wobbly, walked to the other side of the table and looked down.

"Um, well, we just flirt with people I guess." She shrugged and Makoto's face fell.

"Minako. Were you listening? I've been trying to do that for months! Ami doesn't react at all." She groaned and Minako kept her eyes on the Outers, wheels turning.

"And I know you tried it with Rei too. How many times have you drug her along to go boy hunting? She never really acts jealous does she?" Makoto huffed. Minako watched as Haruka eyed another pretty girl and Michiru watched. Abandoning the now terrified driver she sauntered over to Setsuna who took a step back big enough for Minako to see from the top of the hill. The aqua haired girl put a hand on the time senshi's arm and pulled her closer. She said something that Minako could almost make out. Oddly, it sounded like 'shame there's only one bed' and Minako looked on in amusement as Haruka suddenly appeared between the two. It scared Setsuna half to death and the older woman jumped back, nearly tripping into the car.

"I mean making them jealous doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Maybe they can tell we don't mean it?" Makoto continued and Minako's eyes opened wide as Makoto's words clicked. Below, Haruka had her arms around Michiru, their play fight at an end with the entrance of Setsuna into the game and Michiru was smiling in obvious victory. Minako tilted her head as she watched them and a smile broke out.

"Ah, Minako?" Makoto edged, fearing that the crushing reality she had just beaten into the girls plan might have broken her. " Why are you smiling?" She asked. Minako turned to her, an evil grin on her face and Makoto swallowed.

"That's EXACTLY it Makoto." She cackled and the brunette arched an eyebrow.

"It is?" Minako resumed her position on top of the dying table.

"YES! Listen to the Love Goddess and learn my friend. I've had a epiphany."

"_You remembered the word 'epiphany'?" Rei questioned and Minako waved a hand._

"_Details, not important. Anyway…."_

"In much the same way we can sense the interest from them, of course they must sense at least something from us, no? I mean, Usagi could have figured it out by now. They can't be that blind." Makoto nodded. That was true really.

"Go on." She instructed and Minako smiled.

"So when we flirt with the randoms walking by, it's just like that girl down there. Michiru knows she wasn't a threat and Ami and Rei must know that the boys aren't either. That's why don't feel the need to stake a claim."

"Okay, I'm following you. So, what? You think we should flirt with girls?" Minako shook her head at the idea.

"Not quite. We need something bigger. A Game ender." The blonde said ominously, waggling her eyebrows and Makoto looked down the hill.

"Like what?"

"When did the game end for them?"

\"What?" Minako rolled her eyes and gestured down the hill.

"For Haruka and Michiru just now? When did it end?"

"Um, when Michiru flirted with Setsuna?"

"RIGHT! And whyyyyyyy do you think that is?" Makoto could only shake her head. Minako went in for the kill.

"Becaaaaauuuuussssse, Setsuna is a REAL threat."

"_Say what?" Haruka questioned, shooting a violent glare at the woman on the couch. Setsuna raised her hands in front of her and shrugged. Minako humphed, irritated at being interrupted._

"_Shut-up and let me finish." Michiru snickered._

"How is Setsuna a threat?"

"Well one, she lives with them right? Easy access. Two, she's a close friend, so the relationship is there already. It's more realistic. And three, I mean, didn't you think the three of them were already going at it anyway?" Makoto nodded her head. The thought had certainly crossed her mind.

"_What?" Setsuna asked in disbelief and Minako shrugged._

"_It's true. We all thought it." The time and sea senshi looked at each other and then one by one looked over the others. Makoto just gave a half shrug and a guilty smile. Ami blushed and nodded. Rei smirked and gave them a thumbs up. Usagi, laying next to Haruka, was already being questioned by the tomboy and just smiled._

"_We were all really happy for the three of you." She chirped and Haruka looked up at her girlfriend and roommate with wide eyes. The two on the couch just looked back at each other and sighed._

"_Annnnyyywayyyy…." Makoto continued, eager to get on to it._

"So what? You want us to flirt with Setsuna now?" Makoto huffed. She got what the blonde was saying, but not where she was going with it. Minako snickered.

"Not flirt with. That's not big enough. We need to scare them. Make em' feel what it'd be like for us to be off the market so to speak.'

"So, you want us to date her?' Makoto asked incredulously.

"Unless you wanna fight the outers for her, no. No we need someone closer to home." She sat on the bench and put a finger to her lips in thought.

"Motoki?" The brunette questioned.

"No. Gotta be girls."

" So we need two girls, close to home that we have easy access to. A believable relationship with. A viable threat against the only other two single senshi in the galaxy. Willing to pretend to be our girlfriends in order to irritate Rei and Ami into breaking and confessing to us?" Makoto scrunched her forehead, trying to list everything.

"Yup."

"Well hell, that'll be easy." She snorted and put her head on the table. Something niggled in the back of Minako's mind and she ran through Makoto's words.

"Other two single senshi?" She echoed and Makoto looked up at her.

"Yeah, Rei and Ami, and you and me." Minako grinned suddenly and stared at her friend.

" Setsuna was a threat because she's a senshi. SENSHI are threats." Makoto rolled her eyes.

"Yeah I got that part. Where do we find two single senshi?" Minako giggled at her.

"You just listed them."

"I did?" Minako moved across the table top to her and Makoto moved back in alarm.

"Yep. Me." The said, pointing to herself. " And you." She tapped Makoto on the nose and smiled.

"Me and you?" Makoto repeated.

"Yep. That's how we'll do it. You and I will pretend to date."

"You think that would work?"

"Are you kidding me? It's perfect. Think about it. Who else could possibly be actual threats to Rei and Ami? We're senshi, have been friends for forever. Dying together is a pretty bonding experience. We always hang out. It's completely believable! I know they'll go for it."

"_I KNEW you started it!" Rei jumped to her feet and pointed at Minako who crossed her arms and sniffed._

"_So what if I did?"_

"_Gah! I can't believe you started this whole thing just because you wouldn't crack first."_

"_YOU could have cracked first you know." Minako pointed out and Rei sat back down on the couch._

"_WE weren't quite as sure about the two of you as you were about us though."_

"_You weren't?" Makoto asked, watching Ami's eyes and the bluenette shook her head._

"_No, we really weren't."_

"_Well this isn't fair, I wanna hear your side tooo." Minako whined and pointed to them, sending a pleading look to Michiru. "Make them talk and say embarrassing things." She demanded and Ami and Rei both turned red._

"_Oh don't worry, we'll get to them." Michiru promised, sending Ami and scathing look. The bluenette sighed and shifted in her seat. " Don't think I've forgotten who got my Haruka into this." Haruka perked up at finally being called 'hers' and grinned at Usagi._

"_But for now," Setsuna interjected, still fighting the violent blush the Minako's Outer epiphany had caused, "the story is still up to you. I'm assuming Ami and Rei still have no idea at this point?" She asked and the two shook their heads. She nodded, closing her eyes and then shot them back open again as Michiru patted her leg. Was is her imagination or was she patting way way way high up?_

"_Yes, excellent point Setsuna. Minako you and Makoto have to keep the story going up until Ami and Rei figure this whole thing out. THEN it will be on them." She raised an eyebrow in thought. "Just how long was it before you clued in?" She questioned and the raven haired girl rolled her eyes to the ceiling in embarrassment._

"_Um, not for almost a week." She admitted and Minako's eyes opened._

"_We have to keep talking for the whole week?" She whined and Ami shrugged._

"_It's hardly our fault you two were so believable." She pointed out and Minako's face fell._

"_Well, hell."_

"…I know they'll go for it." She triumphed and Makoto made a face.

"I don't know." Minako got a sly look on her face and inched closer to the brunette who tried to back further away.

"Aw, is Mako-chan scared of me?" She purred and the emerald yes widened.

"What?" She yelped and Minako giggled, throwing out a pout.

"Do you really, really, not wanna pretend with me Mako-chan?" Said girl swallowed nervously and scooted to the very edge of the bench.

"Ah, I'm not scared…" She clarified and Minako sent her another dark look and moved closer.

"You sure you can, handle me, Mako-chan?" She teased and Makoto whimpered.

"H…ha….handle?" She eeped out and Minako slid off the table top so she was on the bench in front of her friend.

"Mmm-hmmm. We hafta make it real Mako-chan." She whispered and edged closer, delighting in the terrified look in the taller girls eyes.

"Real?" She echoed and Minako grinned, noting how close her friend was to the end of the bench.

"Yep. We might have to hold hands." She said and lightly traced her fingers across her friends arm, joining their hands.

"Ah, yeah. Well, yeah. I can handle that." Makoto said, staring down. Minako nodded in approvement.

"And we might have to hug." She said, and inched even closer, keeping a tight grip on her hand.

"Um, sure. Cause, yeah, dating. I can do hugs." She affirmed and nodded, but kept her eyes down. Minako bit her lip trying to keep a straight face and leaned forward slightly, dropping her voice.

"We might even have to…kiss." The brunette's head shot up and she let out a strangled yelp at the close proximity of the blonde.

"What?" She whimpered out and Minako favored the girl with one of her best sultry stares, leaning forward even more.

"Kiss, Mako-chan." She whispered, letting her eyes drop to the brunettes lips and then pointedly looking back up into her eyes. " All in the name of true love Mako-chan. Are you ready?" She asked softly and leaned forward just an inch more letting her eyes close just a bit….

"_GAHHHH!" Minako started out of her story as did everyone else in the room and grabbed her heart. Makoto had her eyes closed, she knew what happened next and decided hiding was her best option. The screams broke her out of it and she looked up. Setsuna and Michiru had literally been leaning forward, entranced with every word, gripping the edge of the cushions beneath them. As one, they all turned to the blondes on the floor. _

_They had been happily minding their own business, enraptured by Minako's words, when suddenly the ground beneath them had gotten very weird. First, it had flushed hot, then cold. Not weird enough to stop paying attention however. Then warmer, then colder. Worrying, but the story was getting to the good part. And right as Minako had been leaning forward, and both blondes were holding their breath, the ground beneath Haruka caught fire and the carpet under Usagi froze solid. Incidentally, they had both screamed._

_The racer lept to her feet and started frantically patting the bottom edge of her shirt, which was glowing red. Michiru cast her eyes quickly to the guilty looking fire and ice senshi. Both had death grips on the throw pillows nearest to them, the twin trails of fire and ice that led down to the floor and the trapped Princess and flammable racer were a dead giveaway. She sighed heavily and flicked a hand in Haruka's direction, a quietly whispered attack slipped out and a small ball of water slammed into the tomboy who stood there, sputtering, drenched, although no longer on fire._

_Having figured out what happened, she turned a glare, one eye twitching, on the fire senshi who crossed her arms and looked away._

"_What?" She asked and Haruka shook her hands, flicking drops of sea water on the Miko._

"_What? WHAT?! You set me on fire!" She hissed and Minako and Makoto's eyes widened, staring at the raven-haired girl._

"_Technically, I set the floor on fire. You just happened to be on it." She kept her eyes arms crossed. " And it was an accident." She added as an afterthought. Haruka's jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed. Sensing a battle oncoming Setsuna cleared her throat._

"_Powers tend to act up in moments of , um, intense emotion." She reasoned but the racer didn't budge._

"_Aw, was Rei-chan feeling intense emotion?" Minako teased and violet eyes glared back at her._

"_Gee, I don't know Minako. What do you think? How about I just sit here and describe making out with Ami and see how you feel." Minako glanced to the guilty ice senshi._

"_You're bluffing. You never made out with Ami." She accused and Rei grinned, sensing a weak point that could be exploited._

"_Oh? Are you sure about that?" She questioned and slid over next to the bluenette, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Said bluenette turned beet red and turned to her friend in shock._

"_Oi." Makoto interrupted, not at all liking how close they suddenly were and Rei smirked._

"_Oh, so now you two can just sit there and describe kissing each other but I can't sit close to my very very good friend?" She pulled Ami closer for emphasis, letting a hand rest on her knee and Ami sighed and hung her head. Minako glared._

"_Michiru said to tell everything!" She bit out. " If you don't like it take it up with her." For her part, Michiru held her head in her hands, suddenly wishing she'd of just stayed on tour for that last week and let the whole blasted group get it out of their systems before she ever got home. Setsuna rubbed her back supportively, and Michiru valiantly ignored the shiver that ran along her spine as a result. Cracking open one eye she surveyed the room and debated weather or not this was all worth it. _

_Makoto was sitting on the edge of one love seat, a glare focused in the direction of the fire senshi. Minako was seated on the same seat, nails digging into the cushion under her, small rips already rendering the fabric as she locked eyes with her soon-to-be-girlfriend, another battle of wills sparking in the empty space of the room._

_Ami was sitting, still held close to the ravenette, eyes staring at the ceiling, hands folded in her lap as she studiously ignored the questioning stare of the brunette, and the Miko's hand on her leg. The couch beneath her was still glistening with ice, the watery trail continuing down to the carpet, or what was left of it. A throw pillow sat beside her, also frozen solid. The fire senshi had her eyes locked with Minako, neither willing to back down. The pillow closest to her had scorch marks criss-crossing it, the seat beneath her lightly charred. The black trail dipped over the edge of the couch and a clear path followed to where Haruka had been sitting. _

_The racer still stood, arms crossed, her shirt burned half-way up her stomach. She took a moment to appreciate the glistening abs, before shaking herself out if it. Michiru winced when she realized that what was left of the shirt had been one of Haruka's favorites. The blonde was also sopping wet, a puddle under her feet soaked the carpet and any movement on her part made a distinctly squishy noise. Setsuna sat next to her, also surveying the damage. When their eyes met the greenette gave her a sympathetic smile and Michiru ignored the urge to just grab her hand and drag her into the back bedroom. This whole mess be damned. The ground was littered with soggy, crushed popcorn, burn marks, ice patches, puddles and….Oh yeah._

"_Um, guys? A little help." The Princess whined, the front of her shirt still frozen to the carpet fibers. Ami jumped up, blushing lightly and closed her eyes, willing away the ice. Setsuna nodded in appreciation of Ami's control of her element. The contact between Ami and Rei broken, Makoto and Minako both relaxed minimally._

"_Sorry Usagi." Ami sighed and the blonde couldn't really stay mad. After inspecting her shirt to make sure no damage had been done she shrugged._

"_If someone were talking about kissing my Mamo-chan, I'd of sent a few powers their way to." She agreed and Rei nodded her head._

"_THANK you Usagi." the ravenette said pointedly, turning back to the love senshi. Minako rolled her eyes._

"_We didn't kiss." the blonde sighed out with a huff and Rei snorted, scooting over to her side of the couch._

"_Oh really?" she asked. Ami sat and looked up shyly at Makoto who gave her a reassuring smile._

"_We really didn't" Makoto assured her, and they shared another small smile._

"_So then, what did happen?" Haruka chimed in, reclaiming her seat on the floor, though noticeable further away from Rei than before._

"_Well, as I was saying before Pyro here exploded." She began and Rei huffed, a light color to her cheeks. Minako grinned and put a finger to her lips. "Although, I have to admit, you look delicious when you're jealous Rei-chan." She spoke with a smirk and Rei's light color turned into a full scale blush. Even Haruka snickered._

"_Wha?" Was her oh-so-intelligent response, staring at the blonde incredulously and Minako smiled innocently._

"_What? It's true. After months of actually trying to make you jealous, it's nice to just, see you get jealous for me." Rei made a face at her. "Right Makoto?" Makoto surveyed the remnants of ice on the floor and scratched the back of her head, giving Ami a sheepish smile._

"_Yeah, it actually is kinda nice." She admitted. Ami's blush now matched Rei's and both girls took to staring at opposite walls. Michiru heaved a sigh._

"_Please keep going." Minako nodded and smirked at Makoto._

"Are you ready?" She asked softly and leaned forward just an inch more letting her eyes close just a bit…. *THUD* Minako opened her eyes and snickered at the sight. Makoto had, predictably, scooted back more and gone completely off the edge of the bench. She'd lost her grip on Minako's hand and now lay on her back, one hand on her head.

"Ow…" She whimpered and Minako stretched out on the bench, staring down at her prone friend.

"How's your head?" She asked and Makoto glared at her, pushing herself into a sitting position.

"I'll live. What the hell was that about?" The blonde shrugged.

"I had to see if you could pull it off." She stated and the brunette gaped at her.

"That was a test?" Minako grinned.

"Well it has to be believable to work Makoto. If you can't even get your game face on when it's just the two of us, how do you expect to pull it off with your darling blue-haired angel watching hmm?" Makoto flushed and grumbled at the ground.

"You could have at least warned me." She muttered and Minako sat up.

"Where's the fun in that?" She asked with a laugh. "Besides, I'm out of practice. I had to make sure my charms still worked." Makoto shook her head.

"Rei won't know what hit her." she agreed and the blonde beamed.

"That's the idea. Now come on. Let's get to this meeting and kick our plan into action. Remember, we are totally happy together." She lept to her feet and helped pull Makoto up. She went to grab her hand and drag her to the shrine but the taller girl hesitated.

"What if they believe it?" Minako laughed.

"That's kinda the point isn't it?"

"I mean, what if they just, support us? Like they do when we go boy-chasing? What do we do if they really believe we are happy with each other, and then they are just happy for us?" Minako stopped and frowned. She hadn't considered that as an option truthfully.

"Um?" Was what came out and Makoto sighed.

"This is a bad idea Minako." She sighed. Sure, it seemed like it could work, but so so sooo many things could go wrong. Minako shook her head in denial.

"No it'll work. It'll be fine. They WILL crack." She said determinedly and Makoto sighed again.

"And if they don't?" The blonde scrunched her face up and shrugged.

"Whatever I guess. We'll give it some time, and if it really seems like no reaction at all, we'll just, break up. Say we decided to just stay friends. No harming a chicken." She quipped and Makoto sweat-dropped.

"Um, I think you mean no harm no foul." She corrected and Minako waved her hand.

"Whatever. Does that work for you?" Makoto looked up into the sky.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Minako grabbed her hand and started down the hill.

"What about Usagi?" Makoto asked, allowing herself to be pulled along.

"What about her?"

"What do we tell her?" Minako stopped and Makoto very nearly slammed into her back. The love senshi whirled on her with a curious expression.

"Can we trust her with the truth?" She asked seriously and Makoto gave it some thought.

"If she knew it was fake, anything we tried, she'd probably start laughing." was the brunettes answer and Minako nodded.

"Yeah, best just to pretend with her too." At the taller girl's hesitant look, she took her hand. "Now, you're sure about this right? Once we walk in there and start this, we can't just, stop." Makoto sighed and stared at the ground.

"You really think this could work?" She asked and Minako squeezed her hand.

"Come on, what could possible go wrong?" She asked happily and, ignoring the cold chill that made it's way down her spine, Makoto smiled and nodded back.

"Okay. Let's do this."


	3. More of the Beginning of the Beginning

WOWNESS! Time for chapter 3! Thank you so my fans, all 3 of you , and your support. The crazy and ecchi and OOCness sort of explode in this chapter but I just HAD HAD HAD to get the crazy out of my head! After this, I shall attempt to move forward with the actual plotline.

This is a bit shorter than the other two chapters, but I thought I should at least get something posted. Chapter 4 is already in the works. The rating for this chapter goes up some, maybe T+? It's not really anything I didn't talk about as a teenager lol, but the warning is there none the less. And the _italics _is still the present.

Disclaimer: As usual, none of them are mine. Should this change I'll be sure to let you all know. O.o

Blonde and brunette stopped around the corner from the shrine's ridiculously long steps to catch their breath. They'd pretty much run the whole way from the park and were showing it. Well, one of them was anyway. Blue eyes glared at the stone steps in front of them, as if they were in fact personally insulting her.

"First thing Rei's gonna do for me as my girlfriend is demolish these damn things and install an escalator." Makoto bit her lip and watched her friend try and catch her breath.

"Yes Minako. I'm sure she'll be soo happy to have you she'll just run out and hire a demolition team that very moment." Minako glanced up at the sarcastic tone and made a face.

"Well, not that very moment. I intend to keep her occupied for the better part of the first day." She said and Makoto felt a blush hit her cheeks even as her jaw dropped.

"The whole first day?" She clarified and Minako put a finger to her lips in thought.

"Why? Do you think that isn't enough time? I mean, I could probably do the first two…"

"_Excuse me?" Haruka felt the need to ask. Minako looked over to her, oblivious to the current color of the ravenette's face._

"_What?" Haruka shook her head._

"_You really thought you were going to go for two whole days?" She asked incredulously and Minako shrugged._

"_Well yeah. I mean, what part of 'months' did you not pay attention to? I have a lot of pent-up need she's going to have to attend to." She retorted and Rei just put her head in her hands again, whimpering slightly._

"_Sweetheart," Michiru spoke gently. "You'd kill her. Senshi or not, you have to sleep sometime." She explained and Minako looked over at her gorgeous Miko with a shrug._

"_Well, I'm sorry if Haruka can't satisfy you without a nap but I have no doubt my little Rei-chan can go for as long as I need her too." The absolute silence in the room was frightening if only because this particular group of women was NEVER completely silent. Even in death, there had been noise. And this felt way worse than death. Well, maybe not as bad as death, but definitely close. Ami had her hand over her mouth in horror staring at Rei slowly losing her color. Rei was stock still, terror in her veins. Makoto was looking at Minako like she wanted to slap her upside the head. Usagi was clearly torn between laughing at the look on Haruka's face, and running from the look on Michiru's. _

_Haruka was mortified. For her sexual prowess to be called out? Inexcusable. Setsuna was holding her breath. Not really that big of a deal for her, but still she was. And her gaze was focused solely on Michiru. She almost felt bad for Rei. Minako was about to die before they'd even had their first kiss. Michiru gritted her teeth at the oblivious blonde, seething._

"_What did you just say?" She bit out and Minako turned to her in challenge, her Rei's reputation at stake._

"_You heard me." She retorted and Michiru narrowed her eyes._

"_My Haruka can please me just fine thank you very much. And I'm sure she could go for much, much longer than your 'little Rei-chan' can. Senshi of Wind and Endurance, remember?" Minako narrowed her eyes back and sparks flew, burning little holes in the already destroyed carpeting. Shame too. It had been nice and plush. Haruka puffed up, brimming with pride. Michiru was still defending her. There was still hope._

"_Have you ever slept with her?" Minako asked and Michiru blinked._

"_Um…" Minako moved her gaze to Rei, still hidden in her hands, and looked back._

"_Rei. Have you slept with Rei?" Minako asked again and Michiru scoffed._

"_No, I have not." She assured._

"_Then how do you know Haruka is as good as she is?" She smirked and Michiru actually stopped for a second. Minako grinned in victory but Michiru was not to be denied._

"_Have you ever slept with Haruka?" The Sea senshi challenged and Minako made a face, seeing where this was going._

"_Well no." She admitted and Michiru went for the kill. She didn't play nice when it came to Haruka._

"_You haven't even been with Rei have you?" She asked gleefully and Minako's eyes burned. Michiru smirked and leaned back. " My what faith you put into a lover you haven't even kissed yet. It would seem that Usagi has gotten closer to Rei than you. Perhaps you should first ask your Princess if Rei's skills are up to par before challenging Haruka like that." She laid out, an immensely satisfied smirk on her lips. Minako's eye twitched._

"_Y….you….." She didn't even know how to respond to that. Her face contorted in anger, and though fire was not her element, her aura whipped around her in turmoil. Usagi sweat-dropped at having once again been thrust into the discussion and Makoto winced. The love senshi looked down at Usagi in irritation and said Princess eeped quietly. Then over to her Miko in a look of clear longing. Rei wouldn't meet her eyes. Of course, Minako took this to mean she was embarrassed that her obviously supreme skills in the bedroom were being challenged and she was disappointed that Minako could not defend her better. Her mind set, she looked finally to the sea senshi. All self-preservation snapped at the self-satisfied smirk on the older girls lips and she felt her mouth moving without even realizing what she was saying._

"_If Haruka can satisfy you so well, why then does it seem you are contemplating taking Setsuna on as a lover as well? Or is one just not enough for you?" She hissed and Rei whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the resulting explosions. Maybe if she just concentrated on her powers enough she could force herself to spontaneously combust? _

_Of course, if her face got any hotter, she'd end up on fire anyway. Raised voices and twin bursts of power etched their way into her sensory range and she concentrated harder, chanting her spells. _

_She swore to whatever Gods happened to be still listening at this point that she would never again poke at Ami to make her blush. _

_And that she would sweep the steps of every shrine in the whole damn country. A scream and yelp broke her concentration and she tried suffocating herself with the pillow. _

_And I'll feed the sacred flames every day, without fail…._

_More screams. A burst of heat. _

_All of them… _

_A whip cracked, water splattered. Yelling._

_Every fire…._

_The ground rumbled, the couch shook._

_Hell, she'd set the whole island on fire…. _

_Whatever the Gods wanted. She felt movement, raised voices. _

_She held her breath. Minako is going to kill me. We aren't even dating and I'm already dead. How did she even manage to do that? I knew she'd be a challenge but damn. And we didn't even get to do it once the ravenette mourned._

_Rei was broken out of her hiding place by a soft tap to the shoulder. Hesitantly she pulled away from her pillow and glanced to her side. Ami was giving her a gentle, questioning stare._

"_Well?" Michiru asked and having missed the question, Rei looked up to her to ask her to repeat herself. The question died in her throat and a sweat-drop formed as the apperance of the room suggested that she'd missed much much more than just the question._

_Michiru, no, Neptune, stood on the back of the couch Michiru had been sitting on. Her hair looked a bit disheivled. Her fuku lightly charred in several places with a strange pattern. Her gaze was locked on Rei, as if it had been her spouting off. Setsuna, not Pluto was standing off to the side, out of harms way. An amused smirk on her face as she watched Rei take it all in. Damn the miko was hot when she knew she was doomed. And when she wasn't doomed. She was just hot all the time Setsuna concluded with a slight nod. The couch too had seen better days, the same curious scorched criss-cross pattern marred it. Rei recognized it suddenly as the love-me-chain and whipped her head to the opposite side of the room._

_Venus stood, glowing chain at the ready, dangling from her gloved hand. Her hair was frazzled, and she was soaking wet, as was the plush under her. Her heels sank a good half inch into the destroyed carpeting. She was staring at Rei, and expectant look on her face. After all, she had done all of this to defend Rei's honor. Makoto was standing off to the side as well just as Setsuna was, but instead of a smirk she looked almost mortified. Rei felt chills when she realized the look the brunette was giving her was pity._

"_Um….." Ami patted her shoulder._

"_You didn't hear any of it did you?" She questioned and Rei looked away from the sopping leader of the inner senshi to shake her head. Ami sighed at her._

"_What was the last thing you heard?" Rei swallowed and chanced a quick look to Neptune before quietly replying._

"_Minako saying something about Michiru taking Setsuna as a lover." She whispered for fear of re-igniting whatever epic battle she'd blocked out. Ami closed her eyes for a moment and nodded her head._

"_Perhaps you'd better fill her in Ami." Neptune bit and Ami winced, turning a bright shade of red as she steeled herself to speak._

"_Ah, yes. Well, okay then. So, after that um, comment, Michiru said she hadn't said anything about being Setsuna's lover and then Minako asked why they kept touching and Setsuna asked who cared if they were or not and if Minako was jealous and Haruka jumped and was offended and Michiru assured her that even if she were to take on Setsuna it didn't say anything about her skills except that Michiru felt that Haruka could handle both her and Setsuna and Haruka felt better and then Minako said she wasn't jealous because she was sure you were going to repeatedly rock her world and asked if that meant they were all together then and Michiru transformed and said it didn't matter and how dare she call her out so Minako transformed and said Michiru started it by saying Haruka was better than you and Neptune said that Venus started it by saying that Haruka would need a nap and that by thinking you could go for a whole day, let alone two, just proved that Venus had never in fact done anything with anyone…."_

_Ami stopped to take a deeeeeep shuddery breath. This was horribly embarrassing to repeat, especially what was coming up, and she was trying to just rush thru it and get it over with. Rei's eyes had gotten wider as Ami went on and the bluenette felt sympathy for her friend, she hadn't even heard the worse parts yet._

"_Keep going." Venus instructed, lightly swinging her chain back and forth, practically growling at Neptune as she did. Ami looked fearfully between the two of them before taking another deep breath and went for it again._

"_And then Venus said that just proved she was saving herself for someone important, namely you Rei, and then went at Neptune with her chain and Neptune said that she had waited for Haruka and went at Venus with her attack and then Venus asked why Haruka wasn't enough and used her chain and Haruka got upset again and Neptune told Haruka to shut up and said Haruka was plenty for her but a child like Venus couldn't understand that sometimes you need variety in life and used her attack and Venus said the only variety she needed was weather or not you were Mars or Rei or clothed or….not….and used the chain and Neptune…." Ami took another breath and sighed. This was going to take too long. She'd faint from blood loss before then. She stared at Rei intently, the ravenette in a state of disbelief and glanced over to Neptune who was in attack position, a small ball of water already forming in her hands as she glared at Venus._

"_Can I just, give her the highlights?" She meekly requested. Neptune glared at her until Setsuna put a light hand on her arm._

"_Neither one of them may survive otherwise." She whispered, motioning her head to the beet red ice senshi, and the stricken fire senshi._

"_Fine." Ami sighed gratefully and turned back to Rei._

_The ravenette whimpered as Ami continued with the story, gradually slipping further and further into what she had to believe was all just a bad dream._

"…_Submerge missed and went through the wall…" Rei slowly turned to Venus. Yep, giant dripping hole in the wall. Hmmm, how had she missed that the first time she'd looked over there?_

"…_.said she'd be happy to show you both exactly how it was done…." Slowly moved her eyes over to their leader. Still clutching her chain in a death grip with one hand, she wiped drops of water off her face with the other, her challenging gaze locked on Neptune._

"…_wouldn't be fair if anyone got to you before she did after all the trouble she's been through…." Beautiful blue eyes. The first thing she'd fallen for. Eyes that made her melt. Eyes that were right now glistening with a maniacle competitive sheen. And salt water. But mostly with the need to end the guardian across the room. Kami she was hot when she was pissed. Rei really really hoped she lived through all this. The way the fuku clung to her curves, Rei wanted the chance to tear the damn thing off._

"…_almost took out Setsuna so she moved and proposed…." Violet eyes continued their lost path, no real trajectory. Blankley taking in the cracks in the wall, and crooked paintings. Black streak marks on the ceiling, overturned lampshade, broken side table. What color had the carpet been to begin with anyway? Seemed like so long ago when they'd first walked into this room of doom._

"…_.didn't want to be left out, so at least a week…" Neptune's ball of water had dissipated. She was standing with her hands on her hips, a light scowl on her face. Actually, she was pretty hot too. No wonder Haruka couldn't keep her hands to her self. Rei tilted her head, observing the woman's legs as they disappeared beneath her devastated fuku. Oh yeah, she could picture running her hand up those. She blinked at her own thought. How was Minako's echiiness rubbing off on her already? They hadn't even rubbed on each other yet for Kami's sake._

"…_.Setsuna said she could show her a thing or two…." Said greenette was still standing off to the side, watching Rei take it all in, an amused glint in her timeless garnet eyes. Hand over her mouth, trying to hide a smirk. Arm across her midsection, resting at the bottom of her form fitting shirt. And what a form it was fitted too. Rei blinked. Gah! She really was turning into a hentai._

"…_and with your permission that would settle it." Ami finished and Rei blinked again, slowly drawing her gaze back to the bluenette. Ami was staring at her expectantly, one delicate eyebrow slightly raised. A blush across her cheeks. Realizing that if she asked her to repeat it again, Ami would most likely hurt her, she concentrated and brought Ami's words into the forefront of her mind. When it hit her, exactly what was being asked, her jaw hit the ground and she turned to Venus._

"_YOU WANT TO TRADE ME TO MICHIRU?!" Venus winced, and chancing a quick look at her competition, retransformed._

"_Only for a night Rei-chan." She soothed, taking a half-step in her direction. Rei twitched and looked over to Michiru as she too transformed back._

" _And you want Haruka to have a go at her?" Michiru shrugged, looking for a dry place to sit._

"_Or Setsuna. Shimatte, weren't you listening?" She asked, irritated. Finally locating a mostly intact section of couch she dusted it off and sat down, sinking significantly further down than she had the first time. The ravenette gaped at her. Slowly she turned back to the blonde._

"_And you agreed?" Minako sighed in the middle of hunting for her own place to sit. Deciding finally on the armrest, she perched gently, worried that it wouldn't hold at all. It squeaked, obviously pissed at the extra weight, but held her up. Minako let out a heavy breath and turned back to her irate goddess._

"_It makes sense. I mean, it's not my favorite idea but how else will we both know for sure? Besides, Setsuna's hot. Kinda like a tall you." She answered, a thoughtful expression on her face. Idly, she wondered if Rei would ever be up for a threesome. Maybe for her birthday? She glanced over to the greenette and received a naughty wink. She coughed and looked away, a smile on her face. Oh yeah. Definitely for her birthday._

_Rei blinked at the both of them and turned to the bluenette who only shrugged her shoulders. Ami did not want to get involved in that particular disaster. Rei closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten. Telling herself the whole time that it would be bad to flame sniper anyone at such a close range. When the urge to set something, ANYTHING, on fire passed she took a breath and focused on the gorgeous, but obviously not right in the head not quite girlfriend across the room._

"_So, if I understand correctly, about a week from now…."_

"_Once I am done trying you out for myself…." Minako chimed in and Rei closed her eyes and fought off the heat she could feel flooding her senses._

"_Right…."_

"_And I'm done assessing Setsuna's….talents…." Michiru added with a smirk and Haruka pouted, crossing her arms. Setsuna just sat on the armrest nearest Michiru with a cat-that-ate-the-canary look on her face. Only it wasn't a canary Setsuna was picturing eating. She glanced sideways at the sea senshi and bit her lip. This was going to be a great week. Rei coughed again and sighed._

"_Yes, right. So, in a week, either Setsuna or Haruka will go to Minako, and I will go to Michiru, and we are all just going to, what? Try each other out to see who has the most skills? And, everyone else is ok with this?" Her voice cracking slightly. _

_Haruka humpfed, her arms still crossed. She wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea that she might not be Michiru's champion and representative in all this. Usagi couldn't decide weather to laugh, or be very very worried. These were after all the defenders of the galaxy. The people who would help her raise her future daughter. And they were obviously off their rockers. Setsuna had a shit-eating grin on her face. The few recent glimpses of the future she had nearly had her blushing. Michiru had an eyebrow raised, waiting for Rei's answer. Apparently indifferent to the idea of trading off one of her lovers and getting down with the Miko. At this point it was all about the challenge. Of course, getting Setsuna and Rei in the same week… Michiru shifted in her seat and bit her tongue, suddenly very eager to get this whole thing going._

_Minako was watching her carefully. Well, honestly, she'd been pretty much attempting to undress the Priestess with her eyes. As if by sheer will-power Rei would suddenly appear in her lap naked. Which had led to imagining getting her naked this upcoming week. Which had led to wondering exactly how many days she could get away with taking off from school. Which had led to a dizzying assortment of various school-girl related fantasies, of which a high percentage featured Setsuna as the teacher. After that she'd pretty much checked out of the conversation and her face showed it. Rei blinked hard at the small drip of drool on the blondes face. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know. Well..maybe she did._

_As for Ami and Makoto, they'd started off watching the reactions of the others nervously. Half of the group looked like they wanted to kill someone, and the other half like they wanted to jump someone. Strangely as the night went on, the list of who was going to jump who was getting complicated and Makoto had long ago stopped trying to figure it out. All she knew was neither she, nor her blue-haired mermaid, was involved. That thought made her look over to the bluenette and she jumped when baby blues met hers. They shared a soft, oh yeah our friends are absolutely freaking insane but we mostly still love them anyway smile, and then had just settled for staring at each other. Something they both did regularly anyway, but now at least no one really cared._

_Rei took to staring down Michiru. She couldn't believe she was considering this. Could she share Minako? With Haruka…..meh With Setsuna…..maybe. Could she get it on with Michiru?….Yeah, probably. Could she handle it if indeed the time senshi was better at the bow-chika-wow-wow than she was?…..Yeah, okay. NO. So how to get out of it? Michiru didn't seem to mind. Setsuna looked almost gleeful. Minako was gone already. Haruka….. Rei's mischievous horns sprouted again as an evil idea was born._

"_Haruka…" Rei began, crafting an almost but not quite innocent look on her face as she gazed at the pouting racer on the floor. Haruka looked up at her curiously._

"_Hmmm?" Rei smiled and twirled a finger in her hair. Ami was instantly suspicious of the tone in her friends voice and pulled away from melting in Makoto's eyes to watch the ravenette suspiciously,_

"_I want to make sure that you're okay with all of this before I say yes." Haruka shifted and chanced a look at her now shared lover. Michiru's look didn't really make it look as though Haruka had much say in the matter and the blonde shifted._

"_Why? Are you going to agree to it?" She questioned and Rei hid a grin. She could pull this off, she just had to concentrate._

"_Well, why wouldn't I? I get Minako, Michiru gets Setsuna, Minako gets Setsuna, and then I get your Michiru." She made sure to put a little extra stress into the word 'your'. It didn't go unnoticed by any of the Outers. Michiru squinted slightly and Setsuna tilted her head. Just what the heck was she up too? Haruka shifted cross-legged again._

"_And are you okay sharing your Minako?" She asked, an eyebrow up. Damn, what'd the Outers do? Practice the eyebrow thing on each other? Minako snapped out of her daze at 'your Minako' and listened. Rei chewed on the inside of her cheek and put on a smile._

"_Well, my Mina-chan did say she was interested in Setsuna. I would never hold her back from something she truly wanted." She spoke softly and Minako's eyes turned to hearts._

"_Rei-chan…." She whispered and smiled happily. Rei kept her face neutral._

"_Oh." The tomboy responded, looking down at the ground._

"_Just like how you would never hold Michiru back from something she really wants. Like Setsuna." Rei offered, motioning her head to where Setsuna had slid off the armrest and was once again seated next to the Sea senshi. Haruka put her arms down and glared but the time senshi just shrugged innocently. The blonde sighed and turned back to Rei._

"_Right. Whatever she really wants." The miko had to fight to hold in her smirk._

"_And just like Minako would never hold me back from what I wanted." Minako blinked away the stars in her eyes, or was that sea-water? Damn water attacks…_

"_What do you want Rei-chan?" She asked breathlessly, ears tuned forward to the love confession she was sure was going to spill form the ravenettes mouth. Even Makoto had to admit she was curious as to where this was all going. _

"_I want a chance with Michiru." Rei said, moving her eyes to the semi-startled violinist. Minako froze, not sure she'd heard correctly._

"_Um, what?" She asked, an edge to her tone. Rei turned to her, all innocence, and smiled._

"_Well, you said Setsuna was hot, right? I happen to think Michiru is too. And getting the chance to show off my skills, and have a night with her, it's hard to find a reason to say no." She shrugged and Minako shook her head. She was pretty sure she should be upset, but couldn't quite figure out why. That was technically what they'd all agreed too, but still… Michiru stared at Rei, the suspicion across her face as obvious as Ami's._

"_Really?" She questioned and Rei pulled on every tip on acting she'd ever heard in her life and replayed every Ami blush she could think of. She met Michiru's eyes, blushed lightly and ducked her head, letting a soft laugh escape._

"_Yeah, really." She admitted. Well damn. Michiru looked over to Setsuna who had that damned all-knowing smirk on her face. Oh yeah, she was gonna have fun blowing that look off the woman's face later tonight. For now, she turned back to the fire senshi, giving her a once over. True, it HAD been about comparing her and Haruka, but if Rei was going to enjoy it too… Rei could tell everyone bought it. Well, not quite everyone. Ami was still watching her through slitted eyes. But Ami wouldn't stop her, so onward she went. She'd been pretending for two weeks now, one more wouldn't hurt…._

"_That's why I wanted to make sure Haruka was okay with it. It won't just be about the, challenge. I'll fully enjoy myself." She gave Michiru a very obvious once-over and was pleasantly surprised too see miss proper herself flush under the gaze. Minako was swiftly losing the happy feeling Rei's first words had inspired. Hell, her Miko hadn't even looked her over like that and now Michiru was getting it? How was that fair? Haruka sniffed and avoided looking at Michiru._

"_How much will you enjoy it?" She asked cautiously and Rei let a lecherous grin spread before leaning down to whisper conspiratorially to the tomboy, although still plenty loud enough for everyone else to hear._

"_Are you kidding me? I'm picturing it already. Lay her down on the bed….. her hair all spread out. I bet it's soft right? So soft… I'll run my hands through it, feel her close….lay down next to her, skin to skin…... Run my hand down….. across her cheek…. down her neck. Kami, I bet her skin is so soft too…. Pull her close….. nuzzle her jaw…... A gentle kiss…. Hear her breath catch…. know that I did that. That she's waiting for me….. Pull her closer…. feel her breath on my neck. Lick my lips… Feel her shiver…. know she's ready…" Rei wasn't able to get any further. She was pretty sure she could of talked through a fair amount of this imaginary encounter, she'd even been turning herself on with it a bit. But it had it's desired effect. Haruka and Minako both lept up. One blond pointing at Rei, one at Michiru._

"_She will NOT be ready for you…"_

"_You won't be pulling her anywhere…" Blonde stared down blonde and Rei leaned back into the couch, victory achieved. Minako broke the stare-down and glared at Rei, pointing a shaky finger at her._

"_How can you say such things Rei-chan?" She accused and Rei just smiled innocently._

"_You said you wanted Michiru to try me out. What did you think we'd be doing exactly?" Minako's jaw dropped and she growled, sitting down with a huff._

"_Screw the competition. MY REI." She bit and continued to glare at her self-satisfied soon to be lover. Hell, if she would have let Rei talk any longer, it'd end up being much much sooner, rather than later. The girl better rock her for HOURS tonight after putting her through that. Haruka moved to sit on the floor in front of her lover and her lovers soon to be lover, huffing in irritation that she even had to describe Setsuna that way. Sure, for being like a thousand she was hot but still, sharing Michi went against everything the racer believed in._

"_MY Michi." She huffed, not caring if Michiru agreed with her or not. Makoto just hid in her hands and wondered how hard it'd be just to just grab Ami and run. Ami had a full scale blush going and was trying hard to erase the image Rei had painted from her mind. Sadly, it wasn't working and she wondered if she'd ever be able to face any of the senshi with a straight face after this night was over. Setsuna was trying hard to keep a semi-neutral look on her face. _

_Michiru was just sitting there, staring almost slack-jawed at the Priestess. A firecracker indeed. Minako might just end up sharing her someday, one way or the other. Slightly disappointed that she wouldn't get a go at Minako….Yet….Setsuna cleared her throat._

"_So, the competition is a draw?" She edged and Minako stopped glaring at Rei to stare down Michiru. Both women stayed like that, stuck for a few moments. And just when Makoto was seriously considering sending a bolt of lightening their way to snap them out of it, they nodded as one._

"_Fine."_

"_Whatever." Everyone let out a slow breath and cooled down. Michiru had been watching Rei, still contemplating the untold sections of the story, and watching Rei slowly turn red as she realized she was being watched, when a stray thought flooded her and she remembered what they had all been doing._

"_So, on with the story." Minako moaned and hid back in her hands and Makoto just sighed and cracked her neck. Setsuna pursed her lips, now more eager to get on with the night than she was curious about what the heck had happened._

"_Might I suggest, that if we are ever going to get through all of this in our lifetimes, that we limit interruptions?" She suggested and Michiru mulled the thought over._

"_I agree. As, entertaining, as these little side notes are, we should just focus." She turned to Minako, a gleam of revenge in her eyes and the blonde sighed and waved a hand._

"_Let me guess. Minako, you finish telling it. Right?" She intoned and Michiru grinned._

"_Well, I was going to suggest Makoto take a turn, but since you offered…" She smiled as Minako face-planted. " Makoto can chime in so we get to hear both sides of your side of this whole thing. Keep going until they figure it out." She instructed as the blonde righted herself, motioning to Ami and Rei. " You will let us know?" Se asked, but not really asked, more like told._

"_Yes. We will." They answered in chorus and Michiru waved to Minako._

"_Go on." Minako closed her eyes for a moment, banishing her happy thoughts and called up the memories. And then, nodding to herself she began._

"_Right, well there we were walking up to the shrine…."_

"Why? Do you think that isn't enough time? I mean, I could probably do the first two…" Makoto turned red and waved her hands in front of her, effectively ending Minako's words.

"No no no no no no." She stressed, shaking her head. "That isn't what I meant at all. Just that, I mean, you're just gonna….do…it…right away?" Minako stared at her like she was crazy.

"Well, yeah. I mean, aren't you?" Makoto looked down at the ground, toeing the sand lightly.

"I hadn't planned…" She trailed off and made a face. " I mean, it's not that I don't want…." She huffed and looked back up. " I just hadn't really thought much past….kissing her." Minako snickered and caught herself. Seeing that her friend was entirely serious she burst out laughing, holding onto her already exhausted sides.

"Oh my God Makoto! You've been crazy for her for how long now and you haven't thought past kissing her? Jeeze, I flew past that months ago. How long were you planning on waiting? Till Crystal Tokyo?" Green eyes glared at the prone form.

"No!" She hissed. " I just, wanted it to be special. That's all." Minako managed to get her giggling under control.

"Oh believe me, finally breaking after months of just dancing around each other like this? It's gonna be more than special. It's gonna be freaking amazing!" Makoto rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Besides, what makes you think they wanna just, jump into it?" The blonde pulled herself upright and wiped tears from her eyes.

"I've felt Rei's eyes on me one to many times to think she doesn't want it. And Ami… You gotta watch out for the quiet ones. She's gonna be a freak in bed." Minako winked at her and the brunette flushed, staring blinding into the sky.

"You think?" She asked curiously and blue eyes glittered.

"Oh yeah. Genius like her probably know all the best ways…." She trailed off as Makoto's gaze slowly became less focused and smirked. Oh yeah, she was gone. A few moments, and a soft whimper later, Makoto shook her head and re-focused.

"Sorry." She muttered sheepishly and Minako shrugged.

"Happens to me all the time." Makoto grinned and looked up the shrine. Suddenly hit with what they were about to do, she gulped.

"You ready?" Minako questioned, also staring up. Although, she was more focused on the Kami-forsaken steps in front of them. Makoto let out a slow breath.

"Yeah. As ready as I'll ever be I guess. What's the game plan?" Blue eyes closed for a moment.

"If we were really dating, how would we act? What would we tell them?" The lightening senshi shifted and wandered in her mind for an answer. How would she tell Ami she was dating Minako? Damn that was hard to picture. Enlightenment struck and she smiled. How would she tell Rei and Minako if she and Ami started dating? She'd be so damn happy she wouldn't care truthfully. She'd shout it from the freaking rooftops. She'd be bubbly, smiling, wouldn't let go of hr hand, sneaking little glances, soft smiles, always touching her….

"Shy…but proud as all hell." She answered and Minako tilted her head.

"You were thinking about if you were dating Ami weren't you?" The light pink that danced across the brunettes face was answer enough and Minako grinned.

"Not a bad idea actually. That'll make it more real." With a determined stride, Minako started up the steps, Makoto following closely behind.

Game face on, the ends justify the means, it'll all be worth it in the end…. She chanted the mantra with every step. She could do this. She could DO this.

Forever later, as that was what it seemed to the blonde, although after years of meetings here you'd of thought she'd have better endurance by now, they stood side by side in front of the door to the future. Blue eyes locked on green ones and with a nod, they opened the door.

Ami and Rei looked up from their books, having obviously beaten them to studying. Makoto felt her breath catch as the bluenette smiled at her and ever so slightly shifted to the side, inviting Makoto to sit at her side like always as she looked back down to her book. Minako swallowed and Rei huffed, but moved as well, allowing Minako space beside her. Biting the inside of her cheek Makoto went to step toward Ami but caught herself as Minako sat down across from Rei. With effort, she pulled her gaze away and sat lightly beside Minako. She glanced sideways, and noted the small frown that passed over Ami's features. Minako watched for her raven haired sex goddess's reaction. Viloet eyes flicked her way, swirled with an unreadable emotion, and looked back down. Minako let a tiny breath loose. So far, so good.

"So nice of you two to join us." Rei snapped and Minako stuck her tongue out out of habit.

"Yeah well, Usagi isn't here either so it's not like we're the only late ones." She responded and Ami sighed.

"Usagi is always late." She pointed out and Makoto smiled.

"Whatever. We were talking about something important." Minako huffed, scooting closer to Makoto. If either girl noticed, they didn't show it.

"What was it?" Rei asked and Minako blinked.

"What was what?" Rei paused in the middle of turning a page and looked up at her blonde friend, a light mask of confusion in her eyes.

"What was important?" Blue eyes glinted with mischief.

"Oh, you mean what Makoto and I were talking about? You want to know what important thing we were talking about that was so important we were late?" She pulled out innocently and Rei slowly turned to Ami who had looked up as well. It was a bait, they both knew it. But what could you do but ask? Rei put her book down and focused on the blonde across from her.

"Yes." Rei answered and Makoto had to fight to keep a shy gaze on the floor. Se could feel Ami's curious gaze on her. Kami this was going to be tough.

"Yes what?" Minako teased and Rei rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Yes, we would like to know what important thing you were talking about that made you late." Ami clarified, her eyes never leaving Makoto. Minako turned slightly and looked up at Makoto with a playful smile that the brunette returned.

"Weeeellll, " she drew out, "We were talking about our feelings." She said, immensely pleased with herself as she forced a light blush across her face. At this even Ami set her book down and shared a quick glance with Rei.

"What kind of feelings?" Rei asked suspiciously and Minako giggled a bit.

"Romantic feelings." The sharp look that the fire and ice senshi shared practically made Minako beam. Oh yeah, they were so totally interested.

"Ro…romantic feelings?" Ami questioned, unable to meet Makoto's eyes and so missed the quick jab Minako gave Makoto under the table. Makoto started but managed to get out a believable line.

"Oh yes. We had some very serious, romantic feelings, to talk about." She looked back down at the blonde next to her and Minako could have cried with pride. The girl was a natural. Rei leaned forward, her face an indifferent mask but Minako knew better. She could see exactly how interested the Miko was in the conversation.

"Why? Did you both fall for some new idol?" She asked flippantly, her violet eyes betraying her curiosity. Minako managed another happy giggle, not that hard to pull off since she was giddy at how Rei was falling for this. She looked at Makoto with a 'we know something you don't know' glance and the brunette grinned back, biting her lip.

"No…not an idol." Makoto answered and Rei frowned. Ami sighed heavily.

"Did you two see someone that reminded you of your old sempai Makoto?" She asked quietly and Makoto fought down the urge to lose herself in the bluenettes sad look. She shook her head and looked back at the blonde next to her.

"No. Definitely doesn't look anything like my only sempai." She answered and out of the corner of her eyes saw Ami shoot another look at Rei before straightening up, giving them her full attention.

"Just some random cute guy you like?" Rei guessed and Minako bit her lip.

"No….not a guy….." She pointed out and practically heard Rei's jaw drop. The priestess shifted and sent a lost look at Ami before turning back.

"It…it…it's a girl you like?" She near whispered and Minako blushed again, nodding her head.

"Yeah." She looked up through her lashes. "Is that…okay with you? Are you bothered that I like a girl" She asked shyly and very nearly laughed aloud as Rei's eyes widened comically and she shook her head violently.

"No no no. I mean, Yes. I mean.." Rei sighed and took a breath. " I'm fine with you liking girls Minako. It doesn't bother me at all." Minako smiled at her and locked her eyes onto violet ones. Yeah, I bet you don't mind Rei-chan… She gave Makoto a little pinch under the table and brunette cocked her head at Ami.

"What about you Ami?" She asked quietly and the ice senshi met her gaze. Makoto could see it. That same not nothing definitely something swimming around in the bluenettes eyes. They were so blue. Especially when the rest of her face was so red. Damn she was beautiful, and smart and well-spoken and….whooo…..focus Makoto…..…

"Ah, what about me what?" She asked and Makoto hid a smile. Guess she was flustered after all. She allowed a soft, shy smile and lowered her voice oh so slightly.

" Does it change how you think of me to know that it's a girl I like?" Ami didn't answer at first, it almost seemed like she was having trouble forming words. This was working faster than she thought possible. This whole time, and THIS was all it took to fluster her? With a small start, the blue haired genius found her voice.

"Of course not Makoto. It doesn't change how I feel about you at all." She breathed out with a soft smile and the brunette very nearly did get lost in her eyes. A small thought formed in the back of Minako's mind and, watching Ami's reaction, realized that Ami thought Makoto was talking about liking her. And that Rei probably thought Minako was talking about her. Horns sprouted, although she kept them hidden and she decided to play this to her advantage.

"I'm so glad it doesn't bother you Rei. I think, I think I'm serious about this girl. She makes me really happy." Her eyes lingered on Rei's lips and she gripped the pillow she was sitting on.

"She does?" Violet eyes seemed hopeful.

"Very very happy Rei." Blue eyes twinkled and she poked Makoto again.

"I feel the same Ami. I feel so good knowing that you support me." Ami only nodded in response, lost in emerald pools.

"So, um, who are they?" Rei chanced and Minako bit her lip and looked up at Makoto.

"Do you think we should tell them?" She asked coyly and Makoto gave her a soft smile, nodding in the affirmative. She looked back at Rei, who was still leaning forward, and at Ami who looked like she was holding her breath. However, the big reveal was spoiled when the door flung open with a bang and their Princess bounced in. It was evident how high-strung the bluenette and ravenette were when both girls jumped nearly half a foot in the air. Usagi, happily oblivious to the preceding drama, plopped down between Rei and Minako with a sigh.

"Sorry I'm late but I couldn't find my shoe and then I missed the bus so I got on another bus but it was the wrong one and so I got lost and then took another bus but it let me out downtown so I had to walk past all these really neat shops so I had to go in and see and then I got an ice cream cause all that running around really wore me out and then I finally made it here." She expelled in one breath and turned to Minako.

"So what'd I miss?" She asked and Makoto watched as she took in the new seating arrangement, the panicked looks on both Rei and Ami's faces, and the smiles on Makoto and Minako's. She looked incredibly confused and she turned to Rei.

"What?" She asked innocently and a small vein twitched on her forehead.

"Baka." She hissed and settled herself back down. Usagi blinked and then turned to Ami who was taking deep breaths. At her questioning stare the bluenette cleared her throat and nodded in Makoto's direction, not meeting her eyes.

"Apparently both Makoto and Minako have girls that they like." Usagi's eyes got big and she turned to stare at her twin and lightening guardian.

"Girls?" Was her echo but before Minako could react Rei stood abruptly and smacked the back of her Princess's head with a rolled paper.

"Yes baka. Girls. Why? Is there a problem?" Minako beamed at the challenge in Rei's voice. Her miko was hot when she was defending her. She'd have to remember to reward Rei for her loyalty later.

Usagi sniffled and rubbed the back of her head.

"You are so mean to me Rei! You know I don't care who you all love. I was just surprised was all." Rei sat back down and crossed her arms.

" Well it wouldn't have surprised you if you were on time and heard them when they said it Odango." She huffed. Minako almost smiled to herself. It was as close to an apology as Usagi was going to get from the stoic priestess and they both knew it. With a final glare in the fire senshi's direction Usagi turned back to her twin.

"So, who are they?" She questioned and Ami looked back up.

"They were just about to tell us." She offered and Makoto avoided her eyes. She couldn't do this when Ami was giving her that gorgeous hopeful smile.

"Really?" The Princess squealed and grabbed Minako's hands.

"Who has your love Mina?" Minako gave her Princess a soft smile. Hell if that didn't make this harder. She briefly entertained the idea of drawing this out further, given Rei's reaction but a quick glance over to her partner in crime told her how close Makoto was to breaking under Ami's eyes. Slowly, she drew her hands out of Usagi's grasp, and clasped onto Makoto. The brunette snapped out of her trance, and looked at her, quickly forming a smile. With a victorious grin, Minako raised their joined hands and met Rei's confused stare head on.

"Makoto has all my love."


	4. The Start of the End of the Beginning

So, I am so so sorry to all my readers, but I have decided to put this story on indefinite hiatus…

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LOL! Just Kidding! Did I scare ya? Huh?

I would never kill this story! My brain has finished it and demands that I type it all out. Therefore, it shall be done. So sorry that it took so long. I got a little shifty and downtrodden halfway through. And this story cannot be written if the writer, who is me, is not at peak happy-time spazing mental status.

A special thank you to my two great betas. Princes Moonie of the Moon and WolfPeaceMonster. The extra finishing touches made me proud of this chapter. And it's long too! Yay for long!

Disclaimer: Hey, guess what? Mine now!….. Nah….. I kid. I kid. Still not mine. Ain't I a stinker?

So, without anymore rambling….., chapter four!

The silence was deafening. Minako had heard this saying before. Where from she wasn't sure, and truthfully she had no idea what it meant. How could the lack of sound make you deaf? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Was it any wonder she kept massacring sayings? Who could keep the blasted things straight anyway? But what she did understand however, was that it referred to intense silence. Terrifying silence. Absolute silence. That was exactly what she was experiencing. As the words left her mouth, three very separate reactions occurred.

The first was her Princess's reaction. Or, more accurately, non-reaction. There was none at all. Not even a blink. She just stared. Blue eyes wide and jaw slack. Like someone had hit a giant epic pause button. A button that would be incredibly useful in other situations. Like school…. or battle….. or in bed…. But, anyway…..

Minako watched as slowly, her Princess's eyes moved to where Minako still held Makoto's hand, and then back to Minako's eyes. She blinked, and her gaze drifted to her fire senshi, then to her ice senshi, then back to where their hands joined again. Her mouth moved, forming words with no sound. She looked like she wanted to react, like she wanted to respond, but had no idea how to snap out of it. No ability to move.

The second reaction was the one Minako was glued to and she didn't even blink for fear of missing one single emotion flitting across her Miko's face. This was it. This was where Rei would snap, where her insufferable stubborness would shatter into a thousand billion pieces and scatter into the wind… Minako watched as the expression on Rei's face, one of barely concealed hopefulness and love and devotion melted away first into confusion. Violet eyes that had been searching her own disappeared briefly as Rei blinked, and leaned back slightly.

The raven haired girl shook her head, obviously distraught at the thought of her Goddess belonging to someone else. The Miko had to be so disappointed in herself. That her own cowardice, her inability to simply fall on her knees at the Love Goddess's feet and beg to be her love servant for all time, had driven her angel into the arms of another. She looked at their hands, looked back at Minako, who was fighting not to squeal in joy, and then over to Ami.

Makoto had been watching her Ami, just as Minako had been watching Rei. The bluenette scrunched up her nose, as if working out a particularly difficult math problem, an action which Makoto naturally thought was completely adorable, and leaned back in her seat as well. She stared down blankly for a moment and Makoto held her breath. Could Minako's plan really have worked so fast? But then she almost seemed to smile, and shake her head slightly. Makoto tightened her grip ever so slightly on Minako's hand. Why the hell was Ami smiling? She wasn't supposed to be smiling. She was supposed to be devastated beyond words. Destroyed. So overwhelmed with jealousy that she launched herself across the table and ripped Minako's hands away in a fit of rage while declaring her undying love…..

"_You wanted her to attack me?" Minako interrupted, jolting Makoto out of her story. The brunette made a face._

"_I never said that." She defended and Minako squinted at her._

"_You said rip her hands away." Green eyes narrowed back._

"_Exactly. Not attack." Minako crossed her arms._

"_That sounds pretty violent to me. Not at all realistic. You didn't think Ami would actually do that did you?" Makoto snorted._

"_You wanted Rei to throw herself at your feet and pledge to be your love servant for all time. Did you really think she'd do that?" Minako crossed her arms and stared down the taller girl._

"_Why wouldn't she? Have you seen me? It's a perfectly reasonable response." The brunette snickered._

"_Oh yes of course. The ever so quiet and controlled Miko who goes to a Catholic School suddenly throwing herself at your feet and publicly declaring that she's yours to do with as you please seems perfectly reasonable but Ami telling you to back off isn't?" Minako shrugged._

"_My Rei is more emotionally driven than your Ami. I'd expect a bigger response from her." Makoto was almost growling as she turned and faced the blonde._

"_More emotionally driven? My Ami is plenty emotional." She hissed and Minako squared her shoulders._

"_Not enough to attack me for you." She retorted._

"_Rei wouldn't attack me for you." They glared at each other, facing off across the battlefield that was their couch as Michiru rubbed her forehead. Well, at least they'd made a liiiiitle progress. With a sigh she dropped her hand and made a face. Damn blasted Inners. Across the room Ami and Rei exchanged glances as the battle waged on and their respective partners fought for their honor. Well, sort of. The love and lightning coalition seemed to have dissolved, violently._

"_She would totally have broken before Ami!" Minako bit, scowling at the brunette. She stood, balancing on the arm rest that had been her seat, and sent death glares at her former partner in crime._

"_Not a chance. She seemed pretty comfortable with Usagi. Ami would have come to me first!" Makoto hissed having sprung to a defense position. She'd fight for her Ami damn it. Just because Minako was half crazed, mentally unstable, ridiculously hormonal, and mostly psychotic did not mean she was the only one with love to fight for. Minako scoffed and crossed her arms._

"_Your Ami seemed perfectly comfortable making out with Haruka. It didn't look like she was close to going anywhere with YOU." Whatever Makoto would have responded with, which would have been violent given the color of her face at the moment, was abruptly forgotten as the abandoned tomboy cleared her throat rather loudly and sent a panicked look over her shoulder._

"_Ex-nay on the aking-out-may with arukaHay." She hissed and while Usagi looked at her wind guardian curiously, trying to decipher this strange new language, Setsuna rolled her eyes. Oh yes, way to be covert there oh blonde one.. _

_Having forgotten about Michiru pretty much entirely Minako and Makoto sent terrified looks her way. Aqua eyes shimmered back at them. The violinist wanted to work herself up. She wanted to scare them. Wanted the rage and fire to build in her gaze and to summon a storm that whipped electricity through the room. Wanted to strike fear into their very souls as a haunting reminder for the next time anyone in the room even thought of touching her Haruka. But truthfully, she was exhausted, and with Setsuna's hand somehow back on her leg, she was feeling a lot less territorial. She waited a few heart-stopping moments, and then waved her hand dismissively. Haruka's jaw dropped in serious injury as her lover abandoned her jealousy and quivered her lip in a pout as she fell over. Usagi patted the wind senshi's arm in sympathy as Minako and Makoto both relaxed._

"_Anyway….." Minako continued, determined to win this argument as well. "I'm still right about Rei." Emerald eyes glittered._

"_Are not." Blonde hair flipped defiantly. Well, as defiantly as hair can flip anyhow. This was however Minako's hair, so it had a pretty big attitude of its own._

"_I am too."_

"_You are not." Rei chimed in, shooting her an irritated look. She and Ami had been sitting patiently, listening to their perspective partners happily re-tell their side of the story. And hearing how crazy Minako was about her, not just how plain crazy she was, felt wonderful. It was incredibly funny. And Ami had not been able to wipe the smile off her face as Makoto talked about getting lost in her eyes. _

_But then, hearing how much they had WANTED to hurt them, WANTED to devastate them. It set the fire senshi off. It had worked. Before either she or Ami had figured out it was all a lie, it had hurt a lot. And hearing it all over again just brought back that horrible stinging sensation in the pit of her stomach. Now the idiots were actually arguing about which of the two was more devastated. She and Ami had looked at each other as the argument had escalated and wordlessly agreed. This would not do at all. Payback was to be delivered. Delicious mind-numbing payback. Minako's eyes widened in surprise and she pouted._

"_I'm not?" She whined at her sex goddess and Rei shook her head, crossing her arms._

"_Nope." The blonde's shoulders sagged and Makoto wiggled in her seat with pride._

"_I win." She said happily but her happiness was to be short-lived as was the way of things in this Kami-forsaken room._

"_No. You aren't right either." The bluenette added and Makoto's face fell._

"_Oh, I'm not?" Ami shook her head and Minako blew out her breath and turned to face her curiously irritated soon to be love slave._

"_Why aren't we right?" She demanded and said love slave narrowed her eyes._

"_Her own cowardice?" She quoted, stealing Michiru's patented raised eyebrow attack. Minako shifted uneasily._

"_Ah….." She began and Makoto snickered lightly at the blonde's distress. Suddenly, she felt a cold wave wash over her and turned to find an equally irate Ice senshi staring her down as well. She blinked in confusion and Ami copied Rei and broke out the eyebrow attack. Man, Michiru was making bank off of that move tonight. And Haruka had told her not to bother patenting it. She smirked as Makoto shifted under Ami's gaze._

"_I was supposed to be destroyed?" She questioned and the brunette sweat dropped and forced a smile._

"_Um….." She tried and Rei cut her off, still locked onto her very own blonde sociopath._

"_Simply fall on my knees at your feet huh?" Minako coughed and shrugged innocently._

"_Well…." Ami cocked her head at the lightning senshi._

"_Devastated beyond words?" Gah! That damnable eyebrow! Makoto twitched and rubbed the back of her head._

"_See…" Rei snorted and leaned back into the couch, shaking her head._

"_I'm surprised that you're that far off." The genius next to her nodded in agreement._

"_That's not how we would have reacted at all." Rei smirked and tilted her head._

"_And that's not even close to what I was thinking." She teased and Minako huffed lightly._

"_I'm not a mind reader. So tell me, what were you thinking then?" She questioned and Rei shook her head and wagged her finger._

"_Uh-uh. I'm not telling you. It isn't our turn." She goaded and Minako narrowed her eyes._

"_Yet." She reminded._

"_Yet." Ami agreed, smirking at Makoto as well. The brunette sighed. Sharing what she thought was going on inside Ami's head, while Ami was there telling her she was wrong, sucked. A lot. Apparently, Minako agreed._

"_This is sooo not fair. I wanna know!" She whined and the Miko grinned evilly. Minako narrowed her eyes. Oh no, Rei did not get to own her like this. Rei was supposed to be HER love slave, not the other way around. Not that a little role play from time to time wasn't completely acceptable. It was, and Minako had lists upon lists of things she intended to try out on Rei. But for now, her little fire sprite needed to fall back under her charms. _

_Rei's guard shot up as Minako initiated eye contact. Suddenly, the blondes bottom lip began to quiver slightly. The raven glanced down swiftly, ignored the sudden urge to take said lip in between her teeth, and looked back up. When she did, she about choked on her tongue. Minako's eyes had gone wide and waterey, a full blown pout etched across her face. From the floor Haruka shuddered._

"_The ever powerful puppy dog pout." She breathed. Michiru had used it on her enough times that she knew exactly what the results of this little stare down would be. The Miko was doomed. Michiru nodded her head in the love senshi's direction, impressed with the skill level. Beside her, Setsuna shivered._

"_She's good." Michiru nodded in agreement. Rei was going to be so owned. Poor girl didn't stand a chance._

_Meanwhile, Rei was having a near panic attack as Minako's lip quivered ever so much more as her cheeks puffed out and she clasped her hands under her chin. The Priestess felt the urge to run to her, throw herself at the goddess's feet. _

_Give her anything and everything she wanted. _

_Render her garments from her body and….and….and….._

_Wait….Waaaaiiiiiit…. Breath…..She's using Jedi mind tricks Rei. Focus! Fight it! You are in control! _

_And just as it seemed like Rei was putting up resistance to the big watery baby blues, Minako sniffed._

"_Why are you so mean to me Rei-chan? Don't you….wuv me?" She cooed in pathetic baby talk. Beside her, Makoto almost scoffed aloud. Yeah, because Rei would fall for…._

"_Wha….Bu….Of course I do." The raven whimpered out against her will. Makoto dropped her jaw and whipped her head to the fire goddess in shock. Rei's own eyes widened. Holy crap, had she just said that out loud? What was this incredible force pushing her to say these things? It was like Minako had sent out a baby cupid as an offensive attack and it had just unloaded a whole damn quiver of arrows in her ass. She couldn't even think straight. All she could see were those gorgeous eyes whimpering up at her. _

_Treat it like an enemy! _

_Save your sanity! _

_Chant, meditate, resist….._

"_Don't you care about my feelings Rei-chan?" Came the innocent whispered plea. Oh…crap. Rei swallowed hard and felt herself melting. What the hell was going on with her? From the floor Haruka simply closed her eyes and nodded. Yep, complete and total submission. Right on track. Slowly, Minako's face morphed into a dirty, seductive gaze._

"_Don't you…. Want me Rei-chan?" She purred and even Ami shuddered. Dear Kami, thank you for making me fall for the brunette she thought as Rei completely crumpled and all but slid to her knees as her insides turned to mush. Hot, burning, needy mush._

"_Kami yes, I do." She breathed out and for a beat no one moved. Then just as swiftly as the puppy dog had been deployed, Minako retracted its powers and smirked at her beloved._

"_Owned." She chirped victoriously and Rei blinked, trying to clear the fog from her brain as Setsuna smirked. Hello Whipped-ville. Population: Haruka and Rei. _

"_Wha? But… You?" Rei stuttered and Minako sat back, a giddy smile of win plastered on her face. Well, it was more like dirty win. Like, when a creepy fan boy falls in a pile of school girls win. Like, Minako literally had Rei on her knees telling her that she wanted her win. EPIC WIN FACE. Minako struggled to control her nosebleed at the sight of her love slave on her knees._

"_Just didn't want you to forget who you belonged to my little pet." Said pet huffed in furious indignation and lept up from her submissive pose._

"_Whose I am? WHOSE I AM? You shouldn't forget who you belong to. Or should I say, who you want to belong to." Rei growled, narrowing her eyes. Oh, if the love senshi wanted to play like that, she'd play like that. Unfortunately for her, Minako had no qualms what so ever about being owned. And being public about it._

"_I want to belong to you my little Rei-chan." Minako purred again, leaning forward just enough show off her cleavage nicely. With the addition of her bedroom eyes, that she had practiced for the sole purpose of breaking her Miko, it wasn't really a surprise what happened next. _

_*FWOOSH*_

_*THUD*_

_Michiru rolled her eyes as Rei fell backwards onto the couch unconscious. Blood flowed freely from her nose and Ami lept up, handkerchief in hand as she tried, with little success, to stem the flow. Makoto had on a thoughtful expression. Maybe she could use that move on Ami? What if Ami used it on her? Suddenly, the image of Ami in lacy blue camisole sprang to her mind. Fantasy Ami stretched out on her bed and reached up, a dark look in her eyes. Don't you want me Mako-chan? Fantasy Ami whispered and Minako had to leap back as nose blood flooded the couch._

_Now torn between saving Rei, and running to Amazonian's aid, Ami whimpered and stopped moving altogether. Minako looked ridiculously pleased with herself and settled back in her perch. Kami Inners were so easy. Michiru couldn't believe that all it took was a little cleavage and a bedroom voice to knock them out. With a grin, she turned to her roommate, whose hand was still somewhere under the edge of her skirt. She couldn't help the smirk that plastered itself on her face at what she saw. Slowly, Michiru leaned in close enough to smell light perfume. She was much too proper a lady to have horns sprout, but in her mind, Minako drew them. Of course, she also drew Setsuna in a lace nighty and handcuffs on Rei, but that was neither here nor there._

"_Ahem." The violinist cleared her throat right next to the time senshi's ear and the green haired woman gave a startled yelp and jumped a foot in the air . The hand that had been testing the boundries was ripped away as the woman tried to hide her own nose bleed. Michiru rolled her eyes at Setsuna's sheepish expression._

"_Been awhile huh?" She smirked and Setsuna sighed and made a face from behind her hand. Like it was her fault Minako had a gloriously shaped rack? She was only human wasn't she? Well, mostly human anyway. Human enough to properly appreciate a view like that. Michiru snickered. At her feet, her forlorn lover seemed to be frozen as well and Michiru gave the blond a swift thwack to the back of her incredibly thick skull. It was Setsuna's turn to snicker as the racer wiped away evidence of her own nosebleed and Michiru shook her head. The Outers were supposed to be more mature than the Inners, in theory anyway. Leave it to my lovers she thought with a snort._

_Meanwhile, Ami had managed to revive Rei, Makoto had managed to remain conscious, although she could no longer look Ami in the eye, and everyone had settled back down._

"_So…where were we?" Usagi spoke up from the floor and Minako winked again at the flustered fire senshi._

"_We were talking about hearing their side of the story." _

"_And you will. Once it's their turn." Michiru added, sending a decent glare in the Ice Senshi's direction. It was good to have at least one person afraid of you. And it might as well be Ami seeing as how Rei and Minako were now potential lovers. Ami sighed and shifted under the scrutiny._

"_Their turn better come soon." Minako pouted and stuck her tongue out at Rei, half-hoping the gorgeous girl would make a smart-ass comment about not doing that unless she was going to use it. Which of course Minako was more than willing to do…. Who was kidding? She wasn't half-hoping anything. She PRAYED those were the next words out of Rei's mouth. _

_The Priestess just shrugged, having recovered fully, and sent her that damned sexy as all hell come and get me smirk._

" _Then you had better talk faster." Minako waited. This was most definitely a set-up. She'd started them enough times to sense that her doom was coming swiftly. Ami chimed in effortlessly as she tossed aside a blood stained rag. _

"_Our turn doesn't begin until we find out." Makoto looked over to Minako quickly before re-focusing on her bluenette. Kami Ami was hot when she as playing Doctor. And being evil…. Evil fantasy Ami in a black leather camisole…? Makoto coughed and tried to focus._

"_And you two 'devastated' us for quite a while." Rei snickered._

"_We didn't find out for almost a WEEK." Ami added as Rei met Minako's eyes, glinting dangerously. Minako felt the proverbial axe dropping._

"_And you two aren't even through the first DAY yet." Blonde and brunette both groaned and hid in their hands and so missed the thoughtful, albeit slightly evil look on Ami's face._

"_Actually, you haven't even made it past the first HOUR yet." Makoto cursed and rubbed her eyes with her hand._

"_That is a looong way to go." She mourned and Minako grumped next to her._

"_I'm gonna need something to keep me up that long." Setsuna tore herself away from her game of how high up her hand could go before Michiru stopped chewing on her tongue and mewled out loud and added helpfully._

"_Coffee?" Minako opened her mouth to affirm but was ever so rudely interrupted as every other Inner sprang to their feet and screamed in unison._

"_NOOOO!" Haruka yelped in surprise and shoved herself backward, slamming into the bottom of the couch that Setsuna and Michiru had been sitting on. 'Had' been sitting on. They had lept up and nearly over the back of the couch in surprise and were now perched precariously on top, clutching each other in terror. Minako just huffed and crossed her arms._

"_Oh come on. It wasn't that bad." She asserted and Makoto laughed incredulously from beside her as she eased back down._

"_Not that bad? You know I never got the stain out of my ceiling right?" Minako blinked and opened her mouth to respond but Rei cut in._

"_Where the hell did you find a kiddie pool full of tapioca anyway?" She asked and Minako turned to her, fully ready to answer as Usagi spoke up._

"_I didn't even know that food coloring came in industrial sizes." The temptress shifted and attempted to defend herself when Ami cocked her head._

" _And that poor clown. I don't think he'll ever be the same." Makoto and Rei nodded._

"_I haven't ever been able to look at cotton candy the same way again." Usagi sighed from the floor shivering and Minako rolled her eyes again._

"_That was an accident." She sighed and Rei snorted and leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees._

"_What about the ramen incident?" Minako frowned at her._

"_And the subway mishap?" Usagi chimed in and Minako shot a dirty look in her Princess's direction._

"_And what happened at the Hot Springs?" Makoto gritted her teeth and made a face as Minako gave her an apologetic smile._

"_And the tree at the shrine? What do you call that?" Minako shifted uneasily as Ami tilted her head at Rei._

"_Does your Grandad ever wonder where it went to?" Rei shook her head with a smirk._

"_I think he was more confused by the crater outside my window." Minako winced and Ami nodded._

"_Mom heard about the police chase the on the news the next day." Makoto laughed._

"_Bet that one was fun to explain." Ami shrugged._

"_The neon glitter wigs made it hard to tell who it was." They all nodded as Usagi screwed up her face in confusion._

"_Is that what happened to my collection?" She asked and Minako gave her twin a sheepish smile and a shrug. As they all nodded together, lost in their shared memory, the Outers exchanged looks. Michiru nodded her head, motioning for the greenette to speak. Said greenette shook her head violently. If they were talking about what she thought they were talking about, she'd spent over a month at the Time Gates trying desperately to fix the holes that kept popping up in the Continuum. She'd never felt more like bashing the Garnet Orb into oblivion than she had then. It had cost her a fortune in medication to control the headaches the disaster had caused, and if in fact the blonde one across the room was to blame for the sheer insanity that had inundated the multiple universes that had exploded in and out of existence, she wanted no more part of it. _

_Haruka snorted and crossed her arms. Michiru poked the time guardian and gave her a look that Haruka accurately decoded as, speak up or it's the couch for you. Setsuna huffed but forced a smile. Being the oldest, and therefore elected the bravest, or least the most in need of a good roll in between the sheets, she spoke up first._

"_My, that sounds like an interesting story." She chanced and Minako stared at the ceiling._

"_Maybe, someday in the far, far, far, future, we could hear the rest of it." Michiru added diplomatically. Collectively, the Inners sighed and Ami spoke up._

"_We all weren't really there for the whole thing. I'm not sure any of us actually know what happened." She admitted and Setsuna fought the desire to raise her already overworked eyebrow._

"_No?" Rei leaned back into the cushions and let out a short laugh._

"_Kami no. You think we could all keep up with her?" Minako blushed and Haruka did not have time to question this as Makoto chimed in._

"_Yeah, pretty much when she found one of us, we just sort of hung on for as long as we could." They all nodded again as the love senshi darkened and Michiru glanced at Setsuna._

"_Right, well then." Ami put her tongue in her cheek, thoughtful for a moment and Makoto tried to not notice. Minako noticed Makoto trying not to notice Ami's tongue and smirked. She had that problem with her Miko all the time. Her tongue, her hands, her lips, her panty covered bum as her school uniform skirt slid up just a little to high…._

"_If you really wanted the whole story, the helicopter camera probably caught a good deal of aerial footage." Rei nodded and perked up._

"_And they had to have cameras at the zoo right? You'd think they would save images like that." Makoto nodded and added on helpfully._

"_That military base had to have security cameras."_

"_True. Given how classified national security issues are I doubt you'd be able to access the video easily, but the record still exists somewhere I'm sure." Ami added and Minako shifted in her seat again. Images of Rei temporarily forgotten as she tried to block much less pleasant imaged from her memory. Silence reigned in the room for a few uneasy moments and then…_

"_Military?" Setsuna chanced, sliding back down onto the couch cushions._

"_Clown?" Michiru asked, incredulity on her face._

"_Zoo?" Haruka echoed, suddenly not sure she'd backed far enough away. Usagi just shook her head, glad her guardians had for the most part left her out of that particular mess. Granted, she'd been busy taming the disaster that was Chibi-Usa at the time but still… Minako hid her head in her hands._

"_It was long week." She mumbled and Michiru whined in the back of her throat._

"_Week?" She asked and Rei answered._

"_It was an espresso." Setsuna sighed and gave up._

"_We have tea." She offered politely and Rei just shook her head._

"_Probably best not to chance it." The others nodded in agreement and Minako flung herself backwards in irritation, the armrest she was perched on groaning at the movement._

"_Fine! No coffee!" She pointed an accusing finger at Rei. " But no complaining later if I fall asleep on you!" She hissed and the Miko flushed as Ami and Makoto quietly snickered. _

"_So much for her faith in Rei's bedroom skills." Michiru whispered to Setsuna and the greenette smiled and resumed her game._

"_I know I won't have to worry about YOU falling asleep." The sea senshi caught the hint and flushed, although it could have been the older woman's hand on her knee that brought the blood to her face. Haruka also caught the hint and grumped. If she was ever going to get back on her lover's good side, and in time to exhaust the violinist before the green-haired cradle robber got to her, her good name was going to have to be cleared first._

"_Anyway…" She began loudly and the Inners looked over to her cautiously. "Where were we?" Makoto sighed as Rei giggled at her plight._

" _I believe Makoto was telling us about how Ami was supposed to launch herself across the table and declare her undying love?" Both the brunette and the bluenette flushed and looked away from each other. Minako unfolded her arms and crossed her legs, getting comfortable._

"_Right. So…."_

So overwhelmed with jealousy that she launched herself across the table and ripped Minako's hands away in a fit of rage while declaring her undying love…..

But Minako knew, the genius had snapped. Ami wasn't even in the room anymore, just smiling and shaking her head, delirious with shock.Suppressing a snicker Minako nudged Makoto with her shoulder lightly and put on curious smile.

"Are you happy for us?" She asked and the sound of her voice jolted the three remaining girls into response. Literally jolted. Ami snapped first, whipping her head up to meet Makoto's eyes so fast the brunette wondered how she didn't end up with whiplash.

"Happy? Yes…. Happy. We are very, very….happy. So happy for you." She spoke, panicked, almost mechanical. The word happy felt painfully stressed and Minako bit the inside of her cheek. Ami turned to the Priestess and gave her a forced smile. "Aren't we happy for them Rei?" She asked and Rei just stared for a second, her eye twitching slightly. Suddenly the raven jerked so hard she banged her knee on the small table. Slamming a hand down on the wooden surface in front of her in an attempt to mask the muffled mewl of pain she whipped her head to Minako.

"Yes. Yes we are. So very happy for the two of you." She choked out, rubbing her knee, a wide, slightly terrifying grin on her face.

Usagi looked between her two broken guardians, and apparently, found it safe to respond. With an honest smile, not nearly as terrifying as the one on the raven's face, she turned to Aphrodite's avatar.

"If you two are happy together, then of course we are happy for you." Minako took a moment to smile at Usagi and dropped her hand to below the table level, but kept her grip on the brunette.

"Oh, I'm so glad I can count on my friends to be so supportive." She cooed and leaned into Makoto's side. Rei flinched ever so slightly and Minako tallied herself another mental point. Catching on, though slightly fearful for her angel's metal status, Makoto gave Minako a soft smile.

"Yeah. It means a lot to us to have your support." They shared a small giggle, which couldn't have been planned better if they'd of practiced.

"Yes, well. Congratulations again to the both of you." Ami spoke with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and immediately turned back to her long forgotten book. Rei hadn't moved since Minako had leaned into Makoto's side. She was just staring in their direction with a blank look on her face. Minako opened her mouth, quip about staring on the tip of her tongue when Ami shifted ever so slightly. Rei jerked again, banging her other knee this time and in one breath expelled enough curses to ensure the wooden fixture in front of her would never make it to heaven. Usagi and Minako both gaped at her in shock. Rei NEVER cursed at the shrine. Rei gave them both a sheepish grin.

"Sorry. I just…need to get a new table." Usagi snickered and Minako chewed on her tongue. With a sigh, a light red on her cheeks, and still lightly rubbing her leg, the Priestess turned back to her work. It was so hard for Minako to focus and not drift off into a fantasy about how Rei would react if she offered to rub the raven's leg for her. How high could she get before Rei stopped her?

A few minutes of quiet ticked by. A few very, extremely, painfully long minutes according to Minako. Minako had at first amused herself with her fantasies, but was now eager for some action! Even their regular study meetings were never this quiet. Kami, someone needed to start a pillow fight. Or a name-calling fight. Hell, Rei and Usagi could even disintegrate into a raspberry fight so long as something was happening. And just when she was ready to ask if Rei had any new manga, there-by creating an instant explosion between the Miko and their Princess, Usagi came to the rescue.

"Sooo, how did it happen?" Minako blinked at Usagi's curious expression.

"How did what happen?" She asked and Makoto shifted against her as Usagi giggled.

"How did you two get together? Tell us the story." At school, when teachers would call on her when she had no idea what the answer to a question was, or even what the question was, Minako had a trick she'd perfected. She used it now and allowed a serene expression to cross her face as internally she had a disastrous panic attack while searching for any appropriate answer. She looked over into green eyes and an equally well masked panic attack stared her back down.

Shimatta, why hadn't they thought of that? The back story. The staple of all actresses. She hadn't expected Ami or Rei to want to know anything and the fact that they'd come up with this plan less than thirty minutes ago didn't help.

Next to her Makoto fought to keep a neutral expression showing as she wracked her brain. She knew she shouldn't have listened to Minako. Now what were they supposed to do? Just make up a freakin' love story on the fly? Crap Crap Damn Hell Damn Stupid Baka Idiot Damn….…..Wait…Wait…Hey. Hey, that could work. Just make it up. Why not? The brunette glanced up at Ami to find that the bluenette hadn't looked away from her book at all. All her focus was on the pages in front of her. Glasses perched on the tip of her nose, a few strands of aqua hair dangling in front of her eyes. Makoto couldn't keep the smile off her face at the sight of her, and as an idea infected her brain, she decided she'd already spent way, way, WAY too much time with Minako.

"Well," she began and Minako looked up to her curiously. " Obviously we started out as just friends. And it took me a while, but I started to notice that I was….noticing her more than normal. That I was always happy when I knew I got to see her." Minako's eye's flicked briefly to the genius, still death-gripping her book. The blonde grinned when she caught on to Makoto's plan. Damn the girl was good at this.

"And when we would hang out, or I would see her. I realized I couldn't take my eyes off of her." Minako continued. For Usagi's sake she kept her eyes on the floor, but flicked them up to watch Rei. The Priestess gave no indication that she was even listening.

"That's so sweet!" Usagi chirped and both Minako and Makoto lightly blushed.

"So you just, fell in love slowly?" She asked and they looked at each other, smiles on their faces as they both pictured different senshi in their arms.

"Yeah. I guess we did." Minako answered. Usagi's smile turned playful and she poked at her twin.

"So, have you kissed yet?" She teased and the blonde was saved from having to answer as a resounding tearing sound echoed through the small room. All eyes looked to the Miko who was holding her book in one hand, and several pages in the other.

"Shimatta." She hissed quietly and Minako bit her lip.

"Im sorry Rei." She cooed with false concern. "Are we bothering you?" Violet eyes jerked up in surprise and widened. She looked back down at the pages in her hands and swiftly stuffed the offending items in her bag.

"What? No…not at all. Why would I be bothered? Ha ha ha." She forced the laugh and looked back down at her book, a dark red spreading across her cheeks. Minako grinned. Kami her little sex goddess was gorgeous when she was in denial. Makoto watched as Ami closed her eyes and sighed quietly and Usagi watched them both curiously.

"Right…." You could hear the disbelief dripping from her voice. Minako smirked. "So… anyway…" She turned back to Minako and Makoto and smiled. "So, have you kissed? Is it like when I kiss my sweet Mamo-chan?" The bunny sighed happily, a dreamy look in her eyes as she waited with baited breathe for Minako to respond. Makoto shifted, a nervous smile on her face and rubbed the back of her head. It still smarted from her last 'kiss' with the mentally challenged love senshi….

"_Mentally challenged?" Minako growled and Makoto shrugged her shoulders._

"_What? At the time I thought you had lost it." She explained and Rei snickered._

"_You weren't far off." She laughed and Minako crossed her arms and glared in the direction of the living incantation of fire and passion and sex._

"_You're supposed to be on my side Pyro" She huffed and Rei smirked that I'm sexy and I know it and I know you know it and I'm going to hold it against you for all time smirk at her._

"_Bite me." She challenged and Minako perked up._

"_Really? I didn't know for sure you'd be into that at first." Rei flushed several shades and her eyes widened. Beside her, Ami coughed quietly and Setsuna rolled her eyes._

"_Into….that?" Minako grinned nervously, her blue eyes widening and waved her hands in front of her spaztically._

"_Oh, you were kidding. Hah ha. I knew that. Right…cause yeah, I don't like that either." Came the rushed response followed by a high pitched cackle. And though she was sure she didn't want to know and was infinitely convinced she was going to regret it, Rei felt her lips moving._

"_At first?" She questioned blankly and Minako froze in the middle of her crazed laughter. Haruka snickered._

"_Busted." The love senshi dropped the pretense with a huff and faced down her adorably confused fire goddess._

"_I'm sure I'll be able to get you to like anything with me." She purred and the Miko's eyes widened another few inches. Since when was breathing so hard? She could never remember it being this hard to breathe before. _

_Ami sighed and only marginally resisted another eye roll. Was sex all they ever thought about? Her own love/not love/could be soon to be love was sitting the same distance away and she wasn't falling all over herself. She tilted her head to the side with a puff of breath and caught sight of her Amazonian Goddess. Her eyes drank in the form almost against her will. One leg tucked up, glittering emerald eyes that shone with mischief and amusement and so so much more. The deep chestnut tresses cascading down her perfectly formed features and across her broad strong shoulders. Flowing down past her voluptuous squeezable chest…. The bluenette coughed suddenly, and looked away. Was it hot in here? It felt hot in here. Damn it was hot it here. Makoto cocked her head as her mermaid seemingly choked on air and though Minako recognized the tell-tale signs of lust, she took the distraction and pushed on._

It still smarted from her last 'kiss' with the mentally challenged love senshi. Minako didn't have time to come up with an elaborate and jealousy invoking cover story as Ami slammed her book shut with more force than was usually seen from the quiet genius. Usagi jumped half a foot and shoved her nose into her book so hard she almost yelped.

"Sorry Ami I'll do work quietly now I promise I didn't mean to bug you by asking question about them kissing." The bluenette's eyes widened and she sent a terrified look at Makoto.

"What? No, of course I'm not bothered by you talking to them about kissing. Why would them kissing bother me?" The genius abruptly and viscously tore open her book and refocused and Usagi peeked over the edge of her textbook.

"So…..I can ask them about kissing?" She questioned and this time it was Rei who slammed her book shut.

"You shouldn't be talking about anything Baka! You should be studying." Minako shifted with a challenging grin on her face.

"Studying for what?" Violet eyes met hers.

"What?" She asked and Minako lowered her eyes and drew little patterns on Makoto's arm.

"What should we be studying for that's so much more important than love?" She cooed and watched the Priestess grit her teeth and send a pleading look at Ami. The genius wrinkled her nose for a moment and then tilted her head.

"Have you finished studying for the History exam?" She asked. Minako froze and looked up slowly.

"History exam?" Ami nodded solemly.

"The one I've been telling you about for days now?" Usagi sent her guardian a terrified look.

"History? I hate history! Oh man I am so dead!" As her Princess flipped frantically through her book bag for the appropriate materials Minako mewled, fear in her eyes.

"I don't remember you saying anything about a history exam." She questioned, desperate for a reprieve. Ami raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"You don't believe me?" She asked and Minako groaned. She'd probably been fantasizing about Rei when Ami reminded her. As if on cue Rei chuckled.

"You really haven't even started studying yet? Man, we've been telling you about it for a week now."

"You should really start studying now. It should be a big exam." Rei nodded with the genius.

"Oh yeah, I heard it's gonna be a real bomb."

"I've already studied for it. Extensively." Violet eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Oh yeah me too. It's a doozy."

"Aw damn." Makoto cursed and pulled out a history book with a huff. Minako sighed and did the same, mumbling with each page she turned. Of course there had to be an exam. There was always an exam. She was the magical crime fighting Goddess of Love…. and she had to study for an exam. This week of all weeks! Now, instead of sitting here, urging her fire breathing sex slave into a love confession by flirting all over the place with Makoto she had to just sit here and focus and… Heey… Wait a minute.

Suspiciously she looked up at the resident genius. Ami was focused on her book again, but there was definitely a smile on her face. Blue eyes flicked to the fire senshi and noticed that Rei too was smiling. Minako and Makoto had separated slightly as they began to study and Rei and Ami had obviously relaxed.

No way did Ami just lie about school work. Ami doesn't lie. Not about school work. NEVER about school work. Not for anything or any reason. EVER. The blonde blocked out the sounds of Usagi's muffled whines and concentrated. Ami wasn't even turning the pages of her book. Of course, she said she'd already studied, though Rei wasn't studying history either. Minako blinked. Rei didn't even go to the same school. Why had she studied for the exam? As Minako sneakily watched, Ami and Rei locked eyes, grinned, and looked back down. Oh…those sneaky little…. To use the threat of an exam? That was just genius on her level. Perhaps she'd underestimated their stubborness. She'd have to break Rei of that later.

Blue eyes narrowed. Okay. They wanted to play? She pulled out a piece of paper, like she was dutifully taking notes, and secretly scribbled all over it. Then she ever so slowly slid it over so Makoto could see it.

_There is no test! _Makoto blinked at her and rolled her eyes but wrote on her own binder and tilted in her direction.

_Ami and Rei wouldn't lie about school work. _Minako sighed and wrote back.

_Rei doesn't even go to our school. Why would she study for the test?_ She watched as Makoto mulled this over and frowned.

_Why lie? _Came the hastily scratched response_. _Minako smirked.

_Because it was working and they didn't want to hear about us kissing. _ Makoto's mouth formed a little 'o' as the realization hit her and she narrowed her eyes at her genius. Sneaky little mermaid.…..

_So what do we do? _ Minako bit her lip and gave it some thought. Then, with a devilish smile she draped herself onto Makoto's side, giggling softly. Sharp movement across the table let her know that she had the attention she was looking for. Going along with it, Makoto wrapped her arm around Minako's shoulders and sighed happily. Both remained focused on their studies. A soft sigh sounded and Minako looked up to see Usagi smiling at them happily. She grinned back, blushing lightly.

*CRACK* She looked over to see that Rei had snapped her pencil in two. She ground her teeth together, whispered something quietly, tossed the two halves aside and pulled out a new one. Minako sent a victory smile at Makoto as Rei crumbled and the brunette smiled. She squeezed the blonde closer and grinned, a soft laugh escaping.

*CRACK*

Emerald eyes watched as Ami sighed and switched pencils, pointedly not looking in their direction. Usagi poked her twin and pointed to Makoto. Then got a starry eyed look and giggled, poking Minako again. The blonde laughed again.

*SLAM*

Everyone jumped as Ami set down her closed book and Usagi hid in her folder.

"I'm sorry Ami I know we have a test but it's hard to study cause they are just so cute!" An eyebrow twitched and Minako cheered. Kami she loved her Princess. This was going better than expected.

"I know I should be studying, but being this close to my love makes it soooooo hard to concentrate." She giggled again and hugged Makoto's arm. The brunette nodded.

"Plus it's such a beautiful day outside. A day for lovers." She quipped and Minako beamed. You couldn't write scripts this good. Rei gritted her teeth and Ami suddenly perked up.

"Why don't we call an early end to the meeting then hmm?" Usagi looked at her ice guardian like she'd grown three new rainbow colored pocky munching heads. Ami was ending a study session early? In what universe? There was a better chance of Mamoru appearing in a battle before it was over, managing not to get himself kidnapped, and throwing a rose in ANY other color but red. Just didn't happen. Period.

"Um, really?" She asked and Minako made a face. They couldn't bother them if they left.

"Oh no, school is too important. We should stay." Now it was her getting the incredulous stare from Usagi and Rei perked up.

"You know, I heard that a new clothing store opened up today. Grand opening sale." Minako fought the urge to drool. There was a grand opening sale? Then she saw the gleam in her crafty little fire senshi's eyes. Oh…. well played Rei-chan.

"Really? A sale?" Usagi lept to her feet as Rei nodded.

"Oh yes. You know, why don't you take advantage of this day and go shop?" Makoto shifted.

"What about the history exam?" Usagi's face fell but Ami smiled.

"You know, I must have been thinking about one of my advanced classes." You lying sneaky little…. Minako opened her mouth to argue but her Princess forced a hand over her face.

"Shut up." She hissed. "Don't question it!" With that she lept back up. "To the mall!" She declared and Minako humphed. She would not be beaten so easily.

"You don't have any money." She said and her Princess looked liked she was going to cry again.

"It's okay Usagi. Here, take this." Rei handed the very startled blonde a fold of money and Minako felt her jaw drop. Oh come ON! Seriously? She was that desperate to get rid of them? Surely the Princess had seen through it? Rei would never give her random shopping money. Not in a millon….

Usagi's eyes teared up and she fell to her knees beside the fire guardian.

"You mean it Rei?" She asked and the raven haired girl smiled softly at her.

"Absolutely. Anything for my Princess. You deserve it." Usagi squealed and caught Rei in a fierce hug and Minako seethed at the sight. Trying hard not to clobber her Princess over the head by reminding herself that this was her future queen and not just some random hussy cuddling body to body with HER miko, she gave it one last effort.

"So, are you guys coming?" Even as Usagi stuffed her books in her bag Rei and Ami remained seated. Ami shook her head.

"No, I have a lot of, studying to do. With Rei." Makoto frowned.

"Oh." She muttered and Minako huffed. Fine, they'd made enough progress for the day. Let Rei sit here and think about someone else's arm around me. Me up against someone else when instead I could be right there. In her lap. Up against her. She doesn't even know what she's missing yet. She can just stew in her own spilled milk.

"_Bwa?" Haruka mewled and Ami just shook her head, rubbing her forehead with a sigh._

"_Just let it go." Minako huffed._

She grinned evilly and jumped up, tugging Makoto with her.

"Come on Mako-chan! We can have our pictures taken together!" She cooed and hugged the brunette's arm.

"Of course my Minako, anything for you." Minako very nearly laughed out loud as Ami snapped another pencil in half. Rei came to her rescue this time, smiling happily and leaping to her feet.

"Right then. Well you have fun girls, bye!" She shoved them all toward the door as Makoto struggled to get her bag. Minako did her best to make eye contact with the fire guardian as Rei continued pushing them out.

"I'll see you Monday morning Rei." She cooed and though Rei just forced a smile and shoved harder, Usagi frowned and tripped out the door.

"Monday? What about tomorrow?" Minako gave her Princess a smirk and winked in Makoto's direction.

"Oh, we plan to have tomorrow all to ourselves." Usagi flushed and smiled but Rei stumbled as she pushed them all through the doorway. Minako moved to help her, and to accidentally touch her inappropriately again, but the raven recoiled violently and nearly fell backward.

"Yes well, that's great. I'm gonna study now bye!" With that she slid the door shut and Minako huffed. Damn stubborn Martian. Usagi just laughed and started skipping down the steps.

"Last one to the mall is a rotten egg." Minako groaned and walked down slowly. Bothersome, evil, hateful Kami-forsaken steps. There weren't nearly enough curse words in the languages she knew to fully describe her feelings for these stone monstrosities. The brunette at her side ripped her out of her venting.

"So, how do you think it went?" Makoto asked her in a whisper as Usagi skipped happily away from them. Minako shook herself out of her stare down with the cement underfoot and beamed, glomping onto her arm.

"Are you kidding me? Rei PAID Usagi to go to the mall. Has that happened ever before? We definitely threw them off their game." Makoto got a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Ami did actually seem jealous this time huh?" She wondered and Minako slapped her on the back.

"She was minutes away from claiming you all to herself." Makoto went to respond but Usagi yelled back happily.

"Come on you two love-birds! Let's go!" Minako just winked at her companion.

"To be continued." She said with a smile and chased after her Princess.

_Makoto sighed and leaned back._

"_Do we have to tell you about the mall too?" She asked curiously and Michiru shifted her focus from their story, and Setsuna's ever so closer proximity._

"_Did anything interesting happen there?" Makoto looked over to Minako who shook her head._

"_Not really. I mean, we had to keep it up for Usagi's sake." Michiru looked down at her Princess who was sitting on one of the only remaining throw pillows._

"_Princess?" She questioned and Usagi looked up with wide eyes._

"_Hm?" She asked and Michiru stared her down._

"_Did anything happen at the mall that we should know about?" Usagi screwed up her face in concentration and blushed heavily with shame._

"_I fell in the koi pond." She admitted and Rei snickered. _

"_Baka." Usagi stuck her tongue out, which Rei responded to, and Michiru sighed again. Minako did her best to not focus on Rei's tongue, and exactly how close it was to Usagi's and Setsuna bit her lip as the raspberry war continued._

"_Princess. I think she means did anything happen involving Minako and Makoto and Rei and Ami." Usagi huffed at her guardian one more time before turning to the time senshi._

"_They held hands and stuff. But they didn't say anything about Rei or Ami." Michiru nodded and leaned back into the not so fluffy back of the couch._

"_Then I think we can just skip until you start talking about them again." Minako nodded and looked to the brunette._

"_After the mall then?" She asked and Makoto sighed and stretched out her legs._

"_After the mall."_

"Holy crap that girl can shop." Makoto noted as they walked away from Usagi's house. Five hours and every cent that Rei had offered up later, they had finally dropped the Princess off at her house. Once around the corner, and out of view, Minako dropped Makoto's hand for the first time that day and they both sighed.

"Yeah. I think she even puts me to shame." The brunette chuckled and stretched her arms, putting her hands behind her head.

"So, now what?" Minako rubbed her hands together evilly. She'd been thinking of the next dastardly steps all day.

"Now comes step two." She cackled and Makoto heaved a sigh.

"Step two?" Minako nodded.

"We've introduced them to the idea of us. Now we have to rub it in and give them a chance to come crawling on their knees, begging to be taken." She laughed gleefully, wolfishly. The fantasy of Rei at her feet that much closer to reality and Makoto sighed again.

"Do we really have to rub it in?" She questioned. Ami had looked so….lost. It was obvious now that something definitely was there. It seemed silly to go on pretending. Minako rolled her eyes.

"Of course we have to push them! They didn't break yet did they? Isn't that the whole point?" Makoto looked down at her.

"I though the point was to make sure they felt the same way?" Minako waved a hand.

"Well that too." The brunette stuck her tongue in her cheek.

"And I mean, it seems like we know they feel the same now." The blonde grinned and a lecherous smile crossed her face.

"Oh yes. We know." Makoto chewed on her lip.

"So, maybe we could just, take the next step and confess to them?" She asked hopefully and Minako whirled on her.

"Excuse me? Confess to them? Why would we do that?" Makoto shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno. So we could date them instead of each other?" She chanced sarcastically and Minako's eyes glinted.

"Oh we will end up dating them. Once THEY come to US!" She emphasized, striking a pose and Makoto sighed again looking away as people passing by began crossing the street to avoid the strange blonde posing woman.

"But Ami looked so sad, I don't wanna keep doing that to her. Do you really want to hurt Rei?" She asked and Minako sighed.

"No… of course not. But what makes you think this will be enough? Even if we ran to them right now, think of how stubborn they are? What if they just deny it? Then what? Then we will have lost our cover, and the high ground. We'll be at their mercy! Do you want that?" Makoto shrugged and looked away again.

"I guess not." Irritated, Minako squinted at her.

"You can't tell her." Makoto made a face.

"Why can't I tell Ami? You can keep going at it with Rei if you want." Minako rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to thwack the back of the lightening senshi's head.

"Because baka, if you go to Ami, then it will be obvious to Rei that I was lying. We are in this together, till the end." Makoto made a face.

"I dunno…." She trailed off and Minako glared.

"You had better not go to her." She threatened and Makoto narrowed her eyes back.

"Or what?" She challenged and Minako leaned back and crossed her arms.

"Or a certain blue-haired senshi will find out that a certain brunette senshi keeps certain secret hentai doujin….."

_Michiru blinked as a green blur slammed into the love senshi and sent them both over the edge of the couch in a mass of limbs. Sadly, the edge of the couch was not spared and ripped itself off in a clear act of suicide, following the pair as they rolled. One could almost hear its death scream as fluff spilled out in waves. Setsuna grimaced. She had liked that love seat. It would have made a great little love nest in which she could pin Michiru. Or Rei. Or Minako. Hmmm, decisions…. decisions. Rei and Ami lept to their feet, not really sure whose aid to come too as Makoto came to a halt on top of Minako, one hand firmly over the blonde's mouth._

"_Shut-up." She hissed and Haruka got a thoughtful expression on her face._

"_Doujin?" She asked and Makoto looked over to her sharply, fear in in her eyes even as Minako's own blue eyes widened._

"_Whoops." She murmured under Makoto's hand as the lightning senshi squeezed her eyes shut._

"_I am soo going to hurt you." She growled and Minako's eyes quivered, sending a pleading look to the fire senshi. Rei narrowed her gaze ever so slightly. Makoto was on top of her Minako, and threatening to hurt her? Obviously, Minako had done something to deserve it, but still. From across the room Michiru chuckled, breaking Rei's concentration._

"_You have a doujin? A, hentai doujin?" She asked, biting her lip and Makoto refused to move. Perhaps if she just pretended hard enough, everyone would forget? Ami flushed lightly and shifted, watching Makoto with wide eyes. From under Makoto's hand, Minako blinked her eyes in sympathy. The brunette gritted her teeth at the blond underneath her._

"_It's not a secret if you say it out loud." She bit out quietly and Minako sighed._

"_Ah wowry wat ai head at." She mumbled and Makoto squinted her eyes._

"_When did you get a hentai doujin?" Haruka piped up and Makoto flushed and jerked her head back to the racer, leaning up against the couch. She had a smirk on her face and the brunette sighed._

"_Yeah Makoto, I didn't expect that from you." Usagi teased and if possible Makoto flushed even darker. Rei grinned when she realized that Ami and Makoto were about the same color of red._

"_Kinky Makoto." She snickered and Ami shot her a dirty look. Rei shrugged and even Minako giggled. The brunette looked back down at the blond beneath her and gave her a slow smile. Minako had just enough time to panic before Makoto opened her mouth._

"_Minako gave it to me." She answered gleefully and Setsuna held back a smirk. Gee, little innocent Makoto had a hentai doujin, probably about 'Mercury', and Minako was the one who gave it to her. The blonde was a nympho in training. Who hadn't seen that one coming? The answer to that question was painfully clear as next to Ami, Rei's jaw hit the floor._

"_What?" Minako shot a look to Rei, and then glared up at her captor, daring the lightning senshi to say anything else. Revenge sweet on her tongue, Makoto smirked._

"_Oh yeah, she has a whole collection…." She got no further as a decidedly wet tongue slurped across her fingers and she ripped her hand away._

"_Oh gross!" She yelped and wiped her hand on her shirt in irritation. Minako huffed._

"_Please. You should be so lucky." She turned her head and grinned playfully at Rei. "My Rei would love that." Makoto snorted and sat back, nearly straddling the blonde's waist in the process. _

"_Then go lick her." She huffed and as Rei whimpered, Minako winked at her._

"_Oh, I plan to." She whispered and the object of her none too honorable intentions mewled softly. Makoto rolled her eyes and Setsuna shook her head. Nympho in training. She knew it. Rei was a lucky woman. Doomed, but lucky. Haruka shifted on the floor and Michiru cocked her head. She wasn't done torturing the Inners yet. And they were much much to happy._

"_A whole collection of doujin?" She pointed out and Minako whipped her head to met the evil sea senshi's gaze. Michiru only grinned that superior Outer grin and Minako narrowed her eyes. Oh, that one was pure evil. A small cough sounded and Minako glanced over to see both Rei and Ami fighting violent blushes. She looked up to see Makoto smirking at her. Oh, okay. She wanted to out embarrass her? Psh, her object of affection was AMI. Possibly the most easily embarrassed senshi in existence. Challenge so very accepted._

"_The one Makoto has is very, very, very ecchi." She threw out wiggling her eyebrows and the brunette's jaw dropped. Haruka snickered and emerald eyes glittered._

"_Minako has more than one hentai doujin." Still on the ground Minako gritted her teeth and forced a grin._

"_The one she has is called Icy Shock One. She's trying to find part two." Ami squeezed her eyes shut and Makoto leaned over menacingly._

"_SHE already has all THREE parts of hers."_

"_Mercury gets tied up in hers." Minako sang and Ami choked. Makoto looked over at her, lit up a brilliant shade of red, and whipped her head back down._

"_Mars get tied up in hers. And so do Venus and Pluto." Now Minako's jaw dropped and Setsuna shifted in her seat, biting her lip. Well, wasn't this an interesting turn of events. She gave the love senshi another once over, appreciating the long blonde hair, gorgeous figure, wide terror filled blue eyes, and leaned over to whisper to Michiru._

"_Maybe we should push the trade?" The violinist fought a shudder as warm breath washed over her ear and licked her lips._

"_Maybe we should." Haruka sighed as she felt her lover and the cradle robber shift closer together again. Damn but that woman worked fast. Not that the Inners weren't giving her plenty of opportunities to work off of but blast it all! She crossed her arms in irritation and watched as blue and green eyes clashed and a storm whipped up. Little lightning sparks and glowing hearts cackled in the air. Ami and Rei watched on, frozen mostly in shock. Ami was trying hard not to think about the terrifyingly familiar doujin in which she was tied up, and Rei had pretty much been stuck since Makoto had said 'lick her'. Delightful little fantasies were still spring boarding around in her brain. From the ground Usagi just shook her head. And they called HER crazy. _

_Michiru pulled her focus away from Setsuna long enough to smirk at the figures on the floor. Makoto was still straddling Minako's waist, one hand one either side of her head, leaning over her. Minako had lifted herself off the floor a few inches and the two were nose to nose, growling like puppies. Tiny little untrained puppies….straddling each other….face to face…..inches apart….. She bit her tongue and wondered if anyone else had noticed exactly how compromising their situation looked, or if she was just a little to worked up at the moment._

_Most of Setsuna's attention was on her, not the little tiff across the room, but when her eyes met garnet, they twinkled with mirth. The emerald-tressed cougar nodded at the pair and wagged her eyebrows lecherously. Michiru flushed and cleared her throat, tearing herself away from the ridiculously intense look she was getting. The time senshi was just a bit too good at bringing the blood to her cheeks, with almost no effort really. How'd she do that? It had taken Haruka months to master making Michiru flush, and that was only on good days. And of course only when Michiru allowed it. Setsuna was very swiftly making her forget about the mess they were in the middle of. How had she not noticed what a lil undercover freak Setsuna was? They'd lived together for years now. All that wasted time…To be made up for….. Tonight. Michiru grinned and a dirty smirk crossed her face. So much making out…ah…up to do._

_Okay, so aside from her soon to be bed partner, who else had noticed? . On the floor, Usagi was watching her guardians, obviously amused. Her popcorn bowl now appeared to have three flavors in it, and she munched them happily as the stare down continued. Negative on that one. Michiru made a face. Not a big surprise. The Princess probably had the lowest sex drive in the room. Next to Ami of course. Though, she had seemed to know exactly what she was doing when she'd gone after Rei's ear….._

_Speaking of the fire sprite and the ice nymph, they were both watching the two on the ground with slack jaws. Ami was slowly turning redder and redder as the competition grew and Rei was only marginally paying attention. Michiru blinked at the small nosebleed that the Priestess had going and bit her lip. Hmmm, now what could the little fire senshi be thinking of? _

_Her money was on the visual of blonde and brunette. That's if Michiru were a betting woman, which she was considering her acceptance of a henshin pen that turned her into a magical crime fighter with a fortune telling mirror that ran around in a mini skirt and high heels fighting evil in the name of the Princess of the Moon who had actually died a thousand years ago along with herself and with the help of two talking cats and the relationship that she normally balanced quite well with her fellow crime fighter and gender ambiguous partner raised a child who was the reincarnation of the Senshi of Destruction who happened to be in love with the not yet born daughter of the previously mentioned Moon Princess and her star crossed lover the rose throwing Prince of Earth and all in a curiously foursome household with said partner and a woman who was over a thousand years old and was currently contemplating taking on said cougar as yet another lover._

_Michiru blinked, closed her eyes, and opened them again. Holy Crap. What was her life? Some acid tripped crack anime? Her life was weird. Like, tentacle porn weird. She was pretty sure that at this point, you were required to have therapy. Like, legally required. Kami help the Psychiatrist she decided to visit. Shaking herself out of it, she looked down to point out Rei's predicament to her former and possibly still current lover and noticed that the racer was sitting very still. Very very still. She leaned over just a bit more and couldn't help the evil glare that formed when she noticed yet another nosebleed on the blonde's face as Haruka watched Makoto and Minako go at it. Hmm, so she, Haruka, Rei and Setsuna were the only ones who were fantasizing about Makoto and Minako? Surprise surprise._

_Meanwhile, back on the ground, Minako was furious. There wasn't any way for her to win this argument. Makoto did actually have only a single ecchi doujin. And Mercury was only tied up for part of it. Her own collection was much more extensive and sadly, Makoto knew just how dirty some of them were. She'd just have to hope that Makoto caved, or Ami fainted, first._

"_Two words. Glasses Fetish." Minako smirked. Ami bit her lip._

"_Venus uses the Love-Me-Chain on Mars. And she likes it." Rei squeaked and Haruka beamed. After all was said and done, she might just have to go buy the doujin for herself. Minako's eyes gleamed as a plan to one-up the lightning senshi burned a wicked grin on her face._

"_Jupiter uses a huge strap-on in the one Makoto has." Ami's face burst into flame and Haruka snapped out of her nosebleed induced shock to laugh. The brunette cast her a terrified look and growled down at her captive._

"_She does not!" Makoto was horrified. Minako just shrugged._

"_Lie all you want. I know it's true." Behind her Ami mewled and Makoto clenched her teeth, hissing quietly._

"_What are saying? You're the one that gave it to me. You know that's not true." She was rewarded with a brilliant flash of white teeth in a feral grin._

"_Yes. But she doesn't know that." Minako shot a quick look to the ice senshi, who was currently waging a war between death from lack of breathing or death from blushing blood loss, and back up into angry green eyes. _

_Makoto squinted. Oh, girl was going down. Two could play at this game and if she had learned anything over the past two weeks, aside from don't ever ever let Michiru catch you forcing the love of your life into making out with the love of her life, it was how to think evilly._

"_Venus is a futa for Mars in one of her doujins." She said aloud before she had a chance to chicken out. Minako gaped like a fish as Rei was roughly ripped from her fantasy world. She stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the blonde goddess on the floor. Michiru's eye twitched._

"_Jupiter's lightning rod is a tentacle in hers." Minako shot back and Ami gave the pair a broken look as Haruka choked._

"_Pluto uses her Time Staff on Venus and Mars in hers." Makoto hissed and Minako blinked. She had to give the brunette credit. That was creative. Dirty and underhanded, but creative. Rei sat back and tuned her head ever so slowly to glance at Setsuna. The eldest senshi, still comfortably close to the sea senshi, was also staring down at Minako, a look of almost impressed wonder on her face._

"_I never thought of that." She murmured under her breath. Michiru licked her lips, an amused smile on her face. With a low and dirty chuckle, Setsuna crossed her legs and looked over to meet Rei's eyes. The poor Miko was so traumatized she didn't even have it in her to flush when the time guardian's eyes traveled down her body, winked pointedly at her nether regions, and went back to molesting Michiru._

"_Jupiter has Mercury give her futa a you know what." Minako taunted, sticking her tongue in her cheek. Ami scoffed and Makoto growled._

"_Venus had Mars give one to Pluto."_

"_Mercury begs Jupiter to take her virginity."_

"_Venus has already given hers to Pluto."_

"_Jupiter is a dominatrix."_

"_Mars is the uke." Minako huffed._

"_Duh! In yours, Jupiter is the uke." Ami rolled her eyes but Rei was petrified with fear. She had the distinct impression that she should run. Run far far away. Ukes, Time Staffs and Love-Me-Chains, Oh my. Suddenly, she wasn't sure she'd survive Minako after all. There was no way she was THAT kinky….. right?_

_Minako squinted her eyes. Time to remind little miss thinks she can out ecchi me exactly who she's dealing with. She took a deep breath and summoned up the most evil, wretched, depraved and disturbing of all things she could think to say._

"_Yours has a hentai scene with Tuxedo Mask." A collective gasp tore through the room and somewhere, the universe ripped itself a new one. The devil found himself ice-skating, someone found a brick in a toilet, and a flock of pigs flew happily overhead as onlookers screamed about the joys of floating bacon._

_Back inside, all eyes turned to the brunette. Usagi scowled at her guardian. It was bad enough that Rei had dated him first, now Makoto wanted a piece of her sweet Mamoru? Haruka wrinkled her nose. Oh ew. Michiru made a light gagging noise and Setsuna rubbed her thigh sympathetically. Makoto and Mamoru? Gah! No universe was THAT disturbed. I mean really, what did the boy have to offer? Unless long-winded horribly timed speeches was your thing. Maybe she had a thing for capes? Rei stared in horror at Ami and even Makoto's game face fell. _

"_What?!" She squeaked out and Minako just shrugged her shoulders._

"_It's your doujin." She affirmed and one green eye twitched as a part of Makoto's brain broke at the visual. You could hear the pathetic little snap. Not in a million thousand hundred billion years._

"_It does NOT have him in it." _

"_Yes it does."_

"_DOES NOT!"_

"_It does tooo!"_

"_It most certainly does not!" As the new voice piped up everyone froze and as one very slowly turned their heads to stare. As soon as the words had formed, Ami had slammed her hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. She was now glowing red, making her hair shine a beautiful purple. Minako made a mental note to see if the effect could be repeated. Michiru looked at the ice senshi, back down to Minako who looked confused, and to Makoto who looked like she was trying to figure something out, and then back up at the resident light bulb._

"_How exactly do you know that it doesn't?" She questioned and Ami stuttered._

"_Ah, um I mean, of course it wouldn't. That just seems like something she wouldn't have is all." She nodded her head and Minako felt her senses tingling. _

"_Oh my Kami…." The blonde turned underneath Makoto so fast the brunette fell off backwards. Minako tilted her head teasingly at the ever so embarrassed bluenette._

"_Ami, have you read that doujin?" She asked gleefully. Makoto's head shot up to stare. What? Here she was, feeling all guilty for reading something like that, and Ami had too? Her little innocent bookworm had read a doujin? Ami's silence spoke for her and Michiru felt a proverbial light bulb glow to life._

"_Have you read it? Or….do you have it?" Rei yelped and scooted back as Ami's blush lit the couch on fire and Makoto felt her world spin. Her mermaid HAD the ecchi doujin? Of Jupiter and Mercury? Together? Doing ecchi things? So, Ami thought about them? Together? Doing ecchi things? Makoto swooned backwards but Ami was still hidden in her hands._

"_Ami." Michiru commanded, drawing the glowing girls attention back to herself._

"_Answer. Do you have the doujin?" The bluenette spent a moment trying to remember how to speak. Rei blinked as her facial expression shifted rapidly. Hmmm, that looked suspiciously like Ami's I have a clever plan face. The brunette on the floor perked up as Ami cleared her throat and spoke._

"_No. I do not have the doujin Icy Shock One." She stated and Makoto's face fell. But Minako caught the little lilt to her voice. That, I'm not lying because I can't lie so I'm cleverly saying something. She rewound and replayed the ice senshi's words. And when it hit her, her smile turned down right wicked._

"_No. No you don't have Icy Shock One." Ami met her eyes and Minako beamed. "You have Icy Shock Two." The ice senshi lit up again as Makoto fainted backwards and Minako celebrated her victory Michiru blinked. Little Ami was a pervert now too? Quiet, shy, submissive hides behind her books and her cute little blush and her glasses Ami? The aqua haired woman leaned backwards, giving the aforementioned uke a through once over. Well, they were both water senshi. And she had been curious. Ami'd definitely be a sub….right?_

_She tilted her head to the side, noticing with a smirk that Haruka and Setsuna were doing the same thing. Hmmm, maybe she'd underestimated the Inners all together? The catholic school Priestess wanted to get it on with her. The wanna-be pop idol with a few screws loose was ready to jump in bed with half the people in the room. The love-note allergic glasses wearing genius bookworm was a secret ecchi. And Makoto…. Well, aside from the doujin, she actually wasn't all that naughty. So far anyway. She was starting to realize why her Haruka had managed to get sucked into this mess. Speaking of, she still had no idea HOW it had happened. And for that, she needed to forget about little submissive Ami, firecracker Rei, player Minako and temptress Setsuna._

_The aqua-haired girl set her shoulders and shifted ever so slightly away from her housemate. Setsuna pouted but put her hands back in her lap. The night was young yet. And that skirt wasn't going to take itself off._

"_Perhaps we should focus back on what important?" She suggested, but of course, more like told. _

"_Oh, I am." Minako purred, taking advantage of her place on the floor to happily look as far up her Miko's skirt as possible. Kami she loved school girl outfits. If she tilted her head and the raven haired girl shifted just so she could see all the way up those oh so touchable legs right to her …_

"_Muffin." Usagi said out of nowhere. Minako choked and gaped at the fellow blonde. She shrugged sheepishly. " Muffins sound good right now." Minako gave pained laugh._

"_Ah hah ha….Right. I knew that's what you meant."_

"_I bet you did." Haruka snickered. Michiru thwacked the back of her head and the frightened racer yelped. Setsuna and Usagi giggled and Rei sighed, trying to smooth out her skirt as subtly as possible. Makoto was still out of it, staring at Ami with dazed look on her face. And the glowing red bluenette was ignoring the look, studiously staring up at the ceiling._

"_I meant focus on the story." Michiru hissed and Minako blinked in her direction. " You remember? The story of the mess that my Haruka got involved in? The mess that YOU started?" The blonde winced and Makoto snapped out of it. _

"_Oh yeah." She mumbled, still sending longing looks in Ami's direction._

"_So, where were we?" Usagi piped up from the floor. The love guardian glared at her but her Princess just grinned. "What? This is getting good." Michiru bit back a grin._

"_I'm assuming that you 'talked' Makoto out of going to Ami?" Setsuna asked and Minako snorted and sat up cross-legged._

"_Yeah. I convinced her." _

"_Convinced my ass." The brunette mumbled. "More like black-mailed." Minako shrugged. _

"_Tomato, potato. Whatever." Ami rolled her eyes and Usagi scrunched her nose in confusion. Michiru focused on the lightning senshi._

"_So what happened next?" Makoto sighed and looked over to Minako with a shrug. _

"_I guess nothing till Monday morning." Rei started and glared down at Minako._

"_What do you mean nothing till Monday morning? You said you spent Sunday…" She trailed off and Minako had the decency to look sheepish as the light bulb went off over Ami's head._

"_It was a lie. Of course it was a lie. Oh Kami." She muttered and held a hand to her forehead. Rei leaned back._

"_Wow, that morning makes a lot more sense now." Ami nodded and Makoto sent an apologetic look in Ami's direction. Minako sighed at her soon to be snuggle bunny._

"_It was just all part of the plan."_

"_What was?" Michiru interrupted, an edge to her voice and the Inners winced. Blonde and brunette had a silent disagreement, then Makoto sighed heavily and took a deep breath. She was really very un-fond on Minako at this moment._

"_Fine. I'll go first." She rolled her shoulders, did her best to lean back into what was left of the loveseat, looked at her angel one last time, and closed her eyes. "So Sunday we spent coming up the rest of the game plan, and we put it into motion first thing Monday morning…."_


End file.
